Pension Direct-Investment Valuation Board Adviser

The mandate

An occupational retirement fund holds minority and controlling stakes in toll-road services, cold storage, renewable generation and agricultural processing. Several positions retain marks from financing rounds more than eighteen months old; cash flows face currency convertibility constraints, and some leases or supply contracts involve sponsor-related entities. Trustees need an independent valuation challenge before approving member statements and new direct allocations.

The adviser will test whether each mark reflects observable operating evidence, capital structure, minority rights, marketability, currency access and realistic exit paths. Work will emphasise assumptions that investment teams or external valuers can influence, including terminal growth, discount rate, comparable selection, sponsor funding and related-party terms. Advice supports trustee judgment and does not constitute an audit or regulated valuation certificate.

The service calendar includes a monthly valuation challenge day, a monthly chair debrief and six trustee, investment or audit committee sessions over ten months. Four in-person reviews will cover portfolio companies, the appointed valuer and custodian evidence. Short written challenges will identify the exact assumption, potential member impact, source limitation and accountable response before each approval meeting.

The adviser has no line or executive authority, cannot set official net asset value, direct portfolio-company management, appoint valuers, trade holdings, approve member statements or vote on investments. Trustees and delegated officers retain those powers. The adviser may request sensitivity work and recommend an independent review, while formal value, accounting and allocation decisions stay with authorised bodies.

Appointment is fixed for ten months and concludes after the annual member-reporting cycle. A further term is not presumed; the trustees may authorise one three-month extension solely for a delayed audit or contested mark after documenting necessity. All pension interests, portfolio holdings, sponsor relationships, manager mandates, valuer work and prospective transactions must be disclosed, refreshed at each quarterly conflict attestation and managed by recusal where directed.

Why the board wants this voice

Private assets can remain apparently stable while operating, currency and governance risks change sharply. Investment staff sponsor the positions, external valuers rely on management inputs and trustees bear the member-duty decision. Independent direct-investment experience gives the board a disciplined way to challenge stale marks and related-party assumptions without transferring valuation approval away from trustees.

What you will own

• Challenge cash-flow forecasts against operating volumes, tariffs, contracts, working capital, capital expenditure and realised distributions.
• Review discount rates, country and currency premia, terminal assumptions and comparable sets by asset rather than portfolio average.
• Trace debt seniority, shareholder loans, covenants, dilution, preferences and contingent funding into equity value available to the fund.
• Examine related-party leases, supply, management fees and financing for terms that distort reported earnings or cash generation.
• Test convertibility, repatriation, exit timing, minority protection and marketability assumptions through explicit downside sensitivities.
• Compare external-valuer work, portfolio-company reporting, custodian records and investment-office models, documenting unresolved divergence.
• Present trustees with source-linked ranges, key judgment levers, member impact and required governance action before approval.

Candidate qualifications

• Advised pension trustees or sovereign allocators on direct private-asset valuation across infrastructure and operating businesses.
• Challenged discounted-cash-flow and comparable-company marks using underlying commercial, capital and governance evidence.
• Incorporated currency convertibility, repatriation friction, illiquidity and minority rights into realistic value ranges.
• Detected related-party terms, shareholder instruments or funding preferences that changed value available to ordinary equity.
• Communicated material uncertainty to non-executive fiduciaries without issuing an audit opinion or regulated valuation certificate.
• Demonstrated independence from fund managers, portfolio companies, sponsors, valuers, custodians and prospective transactions.

Non-negotiables

• Can attend the six Nairobi governance sessions and four East African evidence visits during the appointment.
• Will declare personal pension interests and every relevant manager, company, sponsor, valuer or transaction relationship.
• Brings private direct-investment valuation for fiduciary boards; listed-security research alone is insufficient.
• Accepts that trustees retain NAV, reporting, appointment, allocation, trade and member-communication authority.

1. 49 words maximum. Describe a private-asset mark you challenged because cash accessibility differed from reported earnings.
2. 49 words maximum. Which related-party term most often distorts a pension fund’s direct-investment valuation?
3. 49 words maximum. Identify any East African portfolio, manager or valuation relationship affecting your independence.