What a mandate is, the four kinds of exclusivity, and how the group holds one

The definition

A mandate is the written authority a principal gives to a holder to act on its behalf on a defined matter, for a defined time, on defined terms. The asset owner who asks a broker to sell a building has given a mandate. The company that asks an adviser to raise capital has given a mandate. The manufacturer that asks a distributor to represent it in a territory has given one.

Without the writing it is a conversation. The writing is what lets the holder tell a counterparty, truthfully, that it speaks for the principal.

The headings a mandate is written under

1. Parties: principal and holder, as legal entities.
2. Subject: the asset, company, product or raise, described so a stranger could identify it.
3. Scope: what the holder is to achieve (a sale, a raise, an off-take, a partner).
4. Geography: where the holder may act.
5. Exclusivity: one of the four forms below.
6. Term: start, end, renewal.
7. Authority: what the holder may say and sign, and what needs the principal.
8. Fee basis: success fee, retainer, or both; when earned; who pays.
9. Costs: who bears marketing and travel.
10. Reporting: how often the holder reports and in what form.
11. Confidentiality and non-circumvention: usually by reference to the NCNDA.
12. Termination and tail: how it ends, and whether a fee is still due for a buyer the holder introduced.

The mandate brief template is these twelve headings as a sheet with the question each answers.

The four kinds of exclusivity

• Exclusive: only the holder may act, and the principal may not sell or raise around it. The strongest form; the holder usually commits spend in return.
• Sole: the holder is the only agent, but the principal may still deal directly. Common when the principal has its own relationships.
• Open: several holders, first to close wins. Cheap for the principal, weak for the holder, and the form most likely to produce three agents pitching the same buyer.
• City- or territory-exclusive: exclusive within a named place for a named window. The group's Dubai property roadshow mandate (AF-01) runs this way, one Indian city at a time.

How the group holds a mandate

Eight mandates are in market across real estate, technology, film, sport and financial services, listed by name on the opportunities page as AF-01 to AF-08. Each is held by the company in the group whose licence fits: property by Adnan Feroz Properties, capital by Pinnacle Wealth Advisory. The desk coordinates.

Returns, yields and minimum tickets are deliberately not published. The memorandum for each mandate is shared privately under NDA with qualified and professional investors, subject to suitability, and nothing on the site is an offer or investment advice. That is the practice a regulated holder follows, and it is why the public page is a list of names and one neutral line each.

Sources

• Opportunities: the eight mandates by name
• Questions: how memoranda are shared