Heligan Group launches new strategic advisory arm for risk intelligence services
Heligan Strategic Advisory reunites Keith Bristow with former NCA colleague Adam Irwin and will deliver specialist intelligence-led investigations with boutique responsiveness, senior expertise and advanced technological capability, without the institutional friction or generalist overhead of large firms.
Heligan Group, the leading intelligence-led investment and advisory group, has today announced the launch of Heligan Strategic Advisory (HSA), a specialist unit consisting of veteran investigators, analysts and operational technologists providing risk intelligence services.
The move marks Heligan’s expansion into high-end risk intelligence and investigations, responding to growing demands for faster, more specialised insight in complex transactions and disputes.
Heligan’s new advisory arm will deliver intelligence-led investigations with boutique responsiveness, senior judgement on every case, and applied data science behind the analysis. This includes corporate intelligence and strategic advisory services, due diligence and risk assessment, investigations and dispute support, as well as digital intelligence and investigations.
HSA will also offer consultancy services with a focus on the defence sector, delivering strategic insight and analysis, technology and market assessments, sector-specific M&A due diligence, strategic acquisition targeting, competitive intelligence reporting, access to influential networks, and commissioned thought leadership.
The arm will serve ultra-high-net-worth individuals, family offices, multinationals, law firms, and organisations across the sports industry. Its core service areas include:
- Market entry risk, sanctions and regulatory analysis
- Competitive intelligence and political risk monitoring
- Commercial & enhanced due diligence
- Beneficial ownership, source of funds and compliance reviews
- Cross-border investigations, fraud enquiries and asset tracing
- Litigation support, evidence development and expert analysis
- Crisis negotiation, reputation and high-conflict management
- Digital forensics, OSINT and cyber threat assessment
- Dark web monitoring and threat actor identification
The launch reunites Adam Irwin with former colleagues, Heligan chairman Keith Bristow. The pair collaborated at The National Crime Agency. They are joined by Jamie Barter, former head of clients at a London digital investigations firm.
Adam Irwin, managing partner at Heligan Strategic Advisory, said: “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, clean: a reputable jurisdiction, credible advisers, 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 hit 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,” concluded Irwin