Heligan launches new strategic advisory & risk unit

Heligan Group has launched Heligan Strategic Advisory, a specialist risk intelligence and investigations unit that expands the firm's advisory and intelligence services.

The new business will provide strategic intelligence and advisory services for companies and investors, alongside due diligence, sanctions analysis, cross-border investigations, dispute support and digital intelligence. It will also advise defence and security clients on matters including mergers and acquisitions and market entry risk.

Heligan Strategic Advisory brings together Adam Irwin, managing partner of the new unit, and Heligan chairman Keith Bristow. They previously worked together at the National Crime Agency and later at a London corporate intelligence firm.

Jamie Barter, former head of clients at a London digital investigations firm, has also joined. The team includes investigators, analysts and operational technologists.

The business will target ultra-high-net-worth individuals, family offices, multinational companies, law firms and organisations in sport. Its services include commercial and enhanced due diligence, beneficial ownership reviews, source of funds checks, fraud enquiries, asset tracing, litigation support, crisis negotiation, digital forensics, open-source intelligence and cyber threat assessment.

Growing demand

The launch reflects rising demand for faster, more specialised intelligence in transactions and disputes. Heligan is moving further into a market where companies, investors and legal advisers face growing scrutiny over sanctions, ownership structures, political risk and cyber threats.

Demand has increased as boards face more complex decisions on counterparties, overseas expansion and contested deals. Risk reviews that once focused on financial and legal checks are now more likely to include sanctions exposure, hidden ownership links, reputational threats and digital evidence.

Defence is another focus for the new arm. The practice will cover strategic analysis, technology and market assessments, acquisition due diligence, acquisition targeting and competitive intelligence reporting for clients operating in or around the sector.

Irwin outlined the rationale for entering the market in remarks accompanying the launch.

"We are delighted to be launching Heligan Group's new strategic advisory arm. The business environment has fundamentally shifted, and organisations can no longer afford to operate without robust intelligence and rapid investigation capability.

"A client came to us recently about a prospective investor offering a substantial minority stake. On the surface, it looked clean: a reputable jurisdiction, credible advisers, a plausible source of wealth. Two layers into the structure, we found nominee directors. Four layers in, we found entities linked to sanctioned individuals. The investment didn't happen. That is the work: the quiet call at an awkward hour, the answer that changes a board decision, the evidence that keeps a client out of the enforcement headlines.

"The same discipline sits behind our national security and defence practice. Whether a client is stress-testing an acquisition target, assessing a technology's real-world trajectory, or positioning for a programme award, the question is the same: what do we know that the spreadsheet can't tell us, and who do we need to speak to in order to know it?

"Clients tell us the same thing repeatedly. By the time the large firms deliver, the deal has either closed or collapsed. By the time the small firms reach the technical questions, they're out of their depth. HSA is built for the window in between - fast enough to matter, deep enough to trust," said Adam Irwin, managing partner of Heligan Strategic Advisory.

Leadership links

Bristow was the founding director general of the National Crime Agency, giving the launch a direct link to senior UK law enforcement experience. The new arm has been set up as a senior-led practice, backed by investment in recruitment and technology.

Heligan is also investing in proprietary tools focused on applied data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning. It said those tools are intended to support analysts rather than replace human judgement.

For Heligan, the launch adds a more formal investigations and advisory business to its broader investment and advisory activities in safety and security-related sectors. More widely, it reflects continued demand for specialist firms that can examine ownership, sanctions exposure, digital threats and cross-border risk where a conventional advisory review may not go far enough.

The service list also includes dark web monitoring, threat actor identification, evidence development and expert analysis for litigation and disputes.