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MIGUEL COUTO RAMOS Independent Financial Advisory

MIGUEL COUTO RAMOS

Independent Financial Advisory

  • planning · recapitalisation · restructuring
  • vision · excellence · integrity

Who he is

More than two decades between transactions and boards

Advisor to boards of directors and investment committees in Brazil and Portugal, working continuously for more than two decades at the intersection of investment banking and family offices.

The path to the board seat: corporate finance at a banking group; his own practice in M&A and restructuring from 2003; execution in partnership with investment houses from 2009 to 2024, which provided the team; and, since 2025, the standing board seat as the centre of the activity, with a small number of one-off transactions conducted independently.

Established practice in financial restructuring, M&A, capital raising, family succession, governance and multi-party negotiations. Many of the mandates arise from situations of stress — family demergers, distress, sale of control — and are run by the same interlocutor from diagnosis to closing. He holds a PhD in International Political Economy and a post-doctorate in Economics from UFRJ, with research into what, in a valuation opinion, is estimate and what is convention.

Clients, roles and transactions are not identified on this site: they are set out in the CV and the presentation, sent on request. Request the CV and presentation · See education and research.

What he does

Fifteen capabilities, three service lines

Deployed on their own or in combination, according to what the case requires.

See each capability in detail · How he works · Who he works with · Education and research

Rules

How a mandate is accepted

Four rules applied before any work begins — and which also determine what is not accepted.

01

Conflicts checked before acceptance

The conflicts review precedes the engagement letter and is repeated whenever a new counterparty enters the process. Only one side is represented in any given process.

02

Capacity declared in writing

The mandate is accepted in an explicit capacity — advisor to the board, advisory in partnership, or independent advisory — and that capacity is stated in the engagement letter.

03

No product placement and no stake in the capital

There are no proprietary instruments to place and no third-party remuneration attached to the mandate. In restructuring and turnaround no investment is made in the capital of the company advised.

04

Refusal where the conclusion is not defensible

No mandate is accepted whose foreseeable conclusion could not be sustained before a board, a regulator or a court — nor is the conclusion adjusted to suit whoever commissioned the work.

The four rules are stated in the engagement letter and can be confirmed with references, on authorisation.

What sets it apart

Differentiation

Six traits that set this practice apart — not from an investment bank, but from a career independent director.

Has executed what the board approves

More than two decades of M&A and restructuring before advising. The difference from a career director lies not in the number of seats but in having been inside the transaction the board has before it.

Restructuring teaches from the inside

A restructuring mandate lasts years and requires entering the operation, the liabilities and the governance at the same time. No other engagement gives that degree of knowledge of how a company works.

Several sectors, not just one

Industry, agribusiness, energy, real estate, financial services and consumer. An executive brings one sector; whoever has advised on transactions brings the comparison between them.

Engagement without intermediaries

Shareholders, executives, creditors and regulators are dealt with directly. There is no account-management layer between whoever decides and whoever advises.

Structures built case by case

Shareholder deadlock and restructuring have no off-the-shelf solution: the structure rests on the concrete constraints each party faces.

Aligned interests

No financial products are placed and no stake is taken in the client's capital: there is no proprietary interest behind the advice given.

Contact

Where to find us

Contact

Offices

  • Portugal Avenida da Liberdade, 180 · Edifício Tivoli Fórum, Torre A
    1250-146 Lisbon
  • Portugal Rua Combatentes do Ultramar, 800
    4410-198 São Félix da Marinha
  • Brazil Rua Aníbal de Mendonça, 151 · Ipanema
    22410-050 Rio de Janeiro
  • Brazil Praia de Botafogo, 501 · Torre Corcovado · Botafogo
    22250-040 Rio de Janeiro · RJ

Residences

  • Brazil Rua do Leblon, 12-14 · Leblon
    22441-020 Rio de Janeiro
  • Portugal Rua 64, 351
    4500-367 Espinho
  • Liechtenstein Letziweg 10
    9490 Vaduz