My father was in the Ministry of Defence. There was a naval base in Singapore. Our family moved there when I was a baby. Left on a boat and arrived three-and-a-half weeks later. Singapore was pre-independence – a low-rise post-colonial town. Now you can stand on the waterfront and see skyscrapers for miles.
I trained at Cameron Markby and they offered me work in property and banking when I qualified. I’d set my heart on corporate. I had to decide: Ashurst or Linklaters. The partners at Cameron were supportive. They universally said that they would go to Ashurst if it were their decision.
I’ve never regretted joining Ashurst. It allowed me to develop, influence and be entrepreneurial where a bigger firm might not.
I spent six months in New York as an associate. New York and London were worlds apart. You’d leave the office after a deal and walk into PJ Clarke’s at three in the morning. The bar was half full. In London you would have struggled to find a pub open after 10pm. It was fantastic as a 27-year old.
In my early life I was the busiest I’d ever been and my wife wasn’t well at the time. I didn’t have a team. It was the closest I’ve come to physically not being able to cope.
When I started off a lot of what I did was M&A, takeovers and rights issues. Fairly narrow corporate work. Trafalgar House, which used to own the Daily Express, the Ritz and Cunard, was a client of mine. It was part of the consortium that won the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge in London in the ʻ80s. It was the first privately financed infrastructure project in 100 years. My first introduction to projects.
Trafalgar House was also in the consortium that won the Vasco da Gama Bridge in Lisbon in 1995. Working in Portugal exposed me to a new culture. Late-night meetings and off to a club. You burn the candle at both ends.
The management backed me. Ashurst is a radical firm. It always has been. Always will be.
I had to make a career choice: the M&A route or more specialist infrastructure. I just found infra more interesting. The deals are incredibly complex and there is something tangible at the end of it. I can drive across the bridge now and know that years ago I had a hand in making this happen.
It’s easy to look back to the past with rose-tinted spectacles. The reality was never that good. I prefer to look forwards.
Turning the clock back to 2000-01, energy and infra at Ashurst was a very niche business. We hadn’t recruited anyone internally – it was good but not going anywhere. I went to the management and said I wanted to form a new department. The energy, transport and infrastructure practice was born. It wasn’t the norm in those days. A lot of people internally liked what we were doing and wanted to join us.
The management backed me. That would have been a lot harder at a different firm. Ashurst is a radical firm. It always has been. Always will be.
We have built a hugely successful finance practice. We will have to keep reinventing ourselves. There are some institutions that certainly won’t exist in ten years’ time. The ones that survive will be those to adapt.
I’ve never had a problem coming to work. In 30 years I’ve never been bored because there are always challenges.
When we signed the M25 road PFI in 2009 it was the bellwether that the UK was open for business after the banking crisis. We had to raise £1.5bn when there wasn’t much debt around.
We had a party at Ashurst when the project reached financial close in a room with expensive artwork. One banker got carried away and a bottle of wine went all over the most valuable piece of art. Management was relatively forgiving.
Crossrail is my most memorable deal. In 2002 it was not much more than a pipe dream. It went from a few Post-it notes stuck on walls to being the biggest infrastructure project in Europe.
It’s harder to draft short documents. The longer it becomes the harder it is to conclude the deal. Lord Denning, the most revered judge in history, delivered his judgments in short sentences and in plain English. A great skillset.
I acted for the South African roads agency on the N4, which runs from Pretoria to the Botswana border. There was one bit of paper outstanding – a government guarantee. I had to go to the transport ministry in Pretoria. I was sitting in the offices at 3.30pm with the transport minister, desperately needing him to sign. It was halfway through the test match between South Africa and England and all he wanted to talk about was cricket. In the end I used my diplomatic skills to concede that South Africa was the better team and there was no point in discussing it further. He signed and I caught my flight.
Zimbabwe had a $1.4bn coal-powered generation plant. It was punchy for Zimbabwe in 1997. I went to a garden party in the grounds of the British ambassador. All these liveried servants walking around among the African ministers. So out of step. Within three months they’d started kicking out the white farmers. The project was cancelled.
If I need a holiday, I’ll book it for the week financial close is due. Close never happens when it’s supposed to.
If you want to be a good projects partner you have to work for all the people involved. It’s a jigsaw puzzle. If one of the pieces doesn’t fit, the picture is ruined. You’re creating a deal that’s going to live for a very long time. Everyone has to feel like winners.
Communication is a skillset over and above intelligence. If you can’t communicate your thinking, there’s not much value in that.
Experience is the one thing you can’t buy. On Mersey Gateway I drafted an agreement that was seven pages long. Normally these things are 100 pages. No-one made any amendments. I drew on many years of knowledge to do that.
I used to play rugby but injured my knee. My memories of how good I was improve every year. With golf I’m forced to live in the present about how good I am. My piano-playing skills improve with the conviviality of the occasion.
I’m a governor of Reigate Grammar School. It’s not something you should take on lightly.
Law has given me control over my life. If I wanted to watch my children play sport I’ve always been able to do it. I’ve only ever missed one parents’ evening, although I’ve tried to miss more! Working on a project is more a marathon than sprint. It’s less intrusive on your personal life than a corporate deal.
If I need a holiday, I’ll book it for the week financial close is due. It’s the safest week – financial close never happens when it’s supposed to.
Who pays for infrastructure has become so politicised. But you need to have private sector financing. People are losing sight of the fact that there isn’t a Plan B.
You need to respond to where the clients are going. The transport practice used to be heavily focused on Europe and now it’s North America, the Gulf and Australia.
I’ll keep working at Ashurst as long as I can add value. There’s only so much golf you can play.
You have to keep listening and learning. You’re delivering a service. You’re not there for your own intellectual satisfaction.
Where do I see myself in five years’ time? In the Cabinet at this rate. I might be the only person left for the job!
nathalie.tidman@legalease.co.uk
Mark Elsey is a corporate infrastructure partner at Ashurst