Mitigating risks in transactions with strategic due diligence services

The constant challenge to balance growth with reduced risks is pushing clients to pursue high risk deals for better return on investment. Meet James Walker, Senior Managing Consultant in Sydney, Australia, who works within the Ramboll Environmental and Health team helping clients navigate environmental, health, and safety risks with a focus on transaction due diligence.

Since joining Ramboll earlier in the year, James has brought a wealth of experience to our ever-growing team, supporting clients across different asset classes, including the bourgeoning Data Centres sector across Asia Pacific.

Q: Could you tell us about yourself and what your role in Ramboll is?

James: I have worked in the environmental sector for almost 25 years, with a technical focus on undertaking assessment, management, and remediation of contaminated land and hazardous building materials. For the last 15 years I led a national team of consultants providing advice relating to due diligence, land development, regulatory compliance, and assurance services across a wide variety of projects.

My role within the Compliance, Strategy and Transactions team is focused on enhancing Ramboll’s environmental and technical due diligence services associated with property, asset, or Merger & Acquisition (M&A) transactions.

Q: In your opinion, what are the most significant challenges your clients face today?

James: Commercial clients are challenged by the need to grow their revenues and profit margins whilst ensuring they reduce risks. This is a very difficult tightrope to walk across. For instance, my industrial property clients are faced with an extremely competitive sellers’ market, with a shortage of good value stock and relatively low capitalisation rates, which leads to them pursuing riskier deals to seek a better return on investment.

I recently assisted a client with M&A advice for a large chemical manufacturer, with significant environmental liabilities, which was being acquired to allow redevelopment of the sites; the costs of remediation were able to be offset by the residual land value which could be achieved.

My government clients contend with the challenge of mitigating risks to withstand the rigors of public examination whilst also often needing to work within stringent budget constraints. I have successfully reduced these risks by conducting prompt, thorough assessments and developing economical risk management strategies.

Q: What are the key differences and challenges when it comes to delivering due diligence services specifically for the data centre industry?

James: Data centres are a relatively new asset class which are critical to enabling our digital-centric lifestyles. They are technically complex facilities, for example they require significant electrical and mechanical services to run and must be resilient to avoid outages whilst being energy efficient to minimise running costs and impacts on the environment.

Due diligence must assess such engineering challenges and consider future growth and technological evolution, including assessing whether the infrastructure has the capacity to scale up. Site selection is critical and due diligence must address a myriad of factors such as environmental constraints, proximity to demand, and connection to public utilities.

Data centres are also challenging regulators due to their unique characteristics including specific controls which are required to manage potential environmental impacts.

Q: How do you see our global expertise translated and adapted to local context?

James: Ramboll works closely with a wide range of clients and stakeholders to tailor solutions that meet specific project needs whether that is for a single site or across a global portfolio. Local teams navigate complex specific regulations and regional requirements, but can draw upon global knowledge and lessons learned, to ensure that solutions are sustainable, compliant, and well-suited to their environments.

I have already been impressed by the global network available to me, including generating opportunities, cross-collaboration and technical problem-solving.

Q: What attracted you to work at Ramboll?

James: The success of a company is invariably tied to its people and culture and, from my very first interaction with the local team, it was clear to me that Ramboll excels in these areas. I also love Ramboll's ethos of integrating sustainability and engineering excellence.

Being part of an organisation with deep technical expertise who are committed to creating innovative solutions that positively impact society, really resonated with my personal and professional values.

Additionally, Ramboll's reputation for fostering a collaborative and supportive work environment, while offering opportunities for development, meant it was a very attractive organisation to join.