Periplus Research

Periplus Research is a London-based firm providing independent intelligence and strategic advice for boards, senior executives, investment committees and legal teams facing consequential decisions in frontier and emerging economies. Its focus is government intent and counterparty conduct: what these mean for commercial strategy, transactions and cross-border disputes, and how the client should respond. The practice works principally in infrastructure, energy and resources, with particular depth in Africa. Drawing on local knowledge gathered discreetly through its networks across Africa, the Middle East and South, Central and Southeast Asia, the firm tests the assumptions behind a decision and advises on the client’s response. That advice informs whom to approach, in what sequence and on what basis an agreement can be reached and sustained. In contentious matters, commercial and investor-State alike, the firm reconstructs the conduct of parties and assesses the prospects of settlement and whether an award can be collected. The method is conversation, the approach mosaic. Periplus draws on the Track II tradition of informal diplomacy and mediation, using trusted relationships to understand interests, constraints and possible arrangements. The work rests on several thousand in-country interlocutors working in hundreds of native languages and dialects. Through their own extended networks, they gather insights and information from well-placed sources not readily accessible to outside parties. Independently gathered accounts are cross-checked and interpreted in dialogue with local teams, giving clients an independent line of sight. In Africa, Periplus’s networks have supported work in 52 of the continent’s 54 countries. Across 85 jurisdictions, those networks extend from provincial administrations, commerce and regulators through to ministries and presidencies. The practice draws on hundreds of engagements over fifteen years, many predating Periplus—from subsea cable transit rights and upstream M&A to mining portfolio monitoring and cross-border concession liability. That experience includes support for peace processes and mediation, as well as work on boundary and treaty matters. Relationships built over years and held in trust are sustained between mandates by resident sub-regional coordinators. The formal record, from filings and registries to data rooms and financial models, shows what is legible, and increasingly what artificial intelligence can retrieve and analyse. The decisive facts often sit outside it: unwritten understandings, intent and the tacit knowledge of how power actually runs. Where instructed, Periplus remains alongside the client as the agreed approach is carried forward, preparing engagements, coordinating specialist advisers and assessing developments as they unfold. All work follows strict confidentiality and compliance frameworks; counsel-directed assignments are structured to preserve any applicable litigation privilege.