Strategic Consulting

Harbor Partners is an investment consultancy that also runs M&A and investment processes, so its analysis is anchored in how decisions are actually financed and executed. The strategic consulting team brings together more than 50 years of combined experience.

It is a market and competitive assessment of a target: the size and growth of its market, the structure of competition and the credibility of its revenue plan. The aim is to confirm or challenge the commercial assumptions behind the price.

Harbor Partners has hands-on experience in transport, aviation, ceramics, data centres and industry, including a rail demand model and aviation and ceramics market assessments.

It depends on the scope and the sector. A market study is sized around the specific question to be answered, so the timeline is set at the outset together with the client.

Yes. A feasibility study tests the demand, the cost structure, the required investment and the expected returns of a new project or business line before capital is committed. Harbor Partners has carried out feasibility work, including a data centre study for a family office.

Yes. Reference cases include a data centre feasibility study carried out for a family office ahead of a capital commitment.

Each project is structured around a concrete decision: the question is defined, the analysis is sized to answer it, and the work is delivered to inform the decision, not merely to document it.

Start with a no-obligation conversation about the decision in front of you. Harbor Partners then sizes the work around the question and proposes an approach and a timeline.

Fees depend on the scope and depth of the question to be answered, so they are set once the work has been sized rather than from a fixed price list. Harbor Partners agrees the scope, the approach and the fee with the client at the outset, before any work begins.

Yes. Strategic consulting and due diligence work frequently touches on sensitive commercial and financial information, so it is conducted under strict confidentiality and, where appropriate, under an NDA. Discretion is an integral part of how Harbor Partners works.

Commercial due diligence tests the market and competitive thesis behind a target, market size, growth, competition and the credibility of the revenue plan, while financial due diligence focuses on the quality of earnings, normalising them and examining working capital, net debt and contingencies. Together, they tell the buyer whether the thesis holds and what they are in fact paying for.

Harbor Partners is an investment consultancy that also runs M&A and investment processes, so its analysis is anchored in how decisions are really financed and executed, rather than in a standardised methodology. Clients work directly with a senior team that brings together more than 50 years of combined experience.

Yes. Harbor Partners is based on Avenida da Liberdade in Lisbon but works with companies and investors across the country, from Porto and the North to the Centre and the Algarve. The location of the work does not change the depth of the analysis.

Yes, and that is one of Harbor Partners' strengths. Because the same firm runs M&A and investment processes, commercial and financial due diligence feeds directly into valuation and negotiation, and a strategic plan can carry through into the transaction itself.

There is no rigid threshold; each project is sized around a concrete decision rather than a fixed size. The firm works with shareholders, management teams, investors and family offices, sizing the analysis around the question at hand.

Yes. Harbor Partners offers a free, no-obligation initial assessment meeting to understand the decision in front of you before any scope or fee is agreed.

It depends on the question to be answered, but a project usually starts from the concrete decision and the data relevant to it; the exact elements are defined when the work is sized at the outset. Sensitive material is handled under strict confidentiality and, where appropriate, under an NDA.

Harbor Partners delivers an independent, rigorous view, deliberately separated from the natural optimism of whoever is proposing a deal or project. That independence is the very reason for the analysis: to inform the decision, not to justify it.

Quality of earnings is at the core of financial due diligence: it normalises earnings for non-recurring and owner-related items and examines working capital, net debt and contingencies. It tells the buyer what they are in fact paying for, beyond the numbers at first glance.

A lawyer or accountant handles the legal and accounting aspects of a transaction, whereas Harbor Partners' work tests the commercial and financial thesis behind a decision, market size, competition, quality of earnings and feasibility. They are complementary and, on tax matters, Harbor Partners recommends consulting a specialist.

Yes. Harbor Partners works cross-border and can conduct commercial and financial due diligence, market studies and feasibility studies to support international buyers and investors assessing opportunities in Portugal. The analysis is anchored in how decisions are really financed and executed.

Clients work directly with a senior team that brings together more than 50 years of combined experience across multiple sectors. This is one of the firm's distinctions from a standardised, layered consulting model.

An independent, rigorous view is deliberately separated from the natural optimism of whoever is proposing a deal or project, which consistently produces better-informed decisions and fewer costly surprises. Harbor Partners also brings cross-sector experience and a perspective anchored in how deals are really financed and executed.

A strategic plan turns ambition into a concrete, executable path for a company in growth or transformation, setting priorities and framing the financial implications. A feasibility study answers a narrower question, whether a specific project or business line should go ahead at all, by testing the demand, the cost structure, the investment and the expected returns before capital is committed.

Operational transformation acts on the levers that move performance: reviewing the business model, aligning organisational structures with strategy and optimising costs without eroding the capabilities that sustain growth. The aim is a lasting change in how the business operates, not a one-off report that ends up in a drawer.

The work is delivered to inform the decision, not merely to document it, so it feeds directly into the choice at hand. Because Harbor Partners also runs M&A and investment processes, due diligence can feed into valuation and negotiation, and a strategic plan can carry through into the transaction or transformation itself.

Yes. Harbor Partners is based on Avenida da Liberdade in Lisbon but operates across the whole country, including the Algarve, and the location of the work does not change the depth of the analysis. It also works cross-border.

The strategic consulting team brings together more than 50 years of combined experience, with reference cases that include a data centre feasibility study for a family office, a commercial transformation for an industrial company with more than 300 employees, a rail demand model and aviation and ceramics market assessments. Harbor Partners has also been recognised in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe.

It focuses on how the company creates and captures value commercially and where that breaks down, then redesigns the operating model to fix it. Harbor Partners' reference cases include a commercial transformation for an industrial company with more than 300 employees.

Yes. A sector assessment reads the structural dynamics of an industry to inform investment or expansion decisions and can reveal consolidation potential. In a ceramics market assessment, Harbor Partners identified consolidation potential of more than 200 jobs.

Strategic consulting and due diligence can touch on tax matters, but Harbor Partners recommends turning to a dedicated tax specialist for those questions. Its work focuses on the commercial, financial and strategic analysis behind the decision.

Start with a no-obligation conversation about the decision in front of you; Harbor Partners then sizes the work and proposes an approach and a timeline. You can contact the team at geral@harborpartners.pt or +351 910 663 251.

There is no fixed price list; fees depend on the scope and depth of the question to be answered. Harbor Partners agrees the scope, the approach and the fee with the client at the outset, before any work begins.

Companies and investors usually turn to strategic consulting ahead of an acquisition, before entering a new market or launching a project, during a phase of growth or transformation, or when performance falls short. If your situation resembles any of these, a free, no-obligation conversation is the simplest way to confirm it.

Yes. Harbor Partners conducts commercial and financial due diligence designed to inform the decision behind an acquisition, testing whether the investment thesis holds and what the buyer is in fact paying for. Because the same firm runs M&A processes, that work feeds directly into valuation and negotiation.

A market study assesses a sector, demand and competitive dynamics in their own right, often before a decision; commercial due diligence applies that analysis to a specific target you are acquiring, testing the company's market position, revenue assumptions and growth plan in the context of the transaction.

Yes. We can prepare the commercial and analytical work on the sell side so that the business and the dataroom are ready before approaching buyers, anticipating the questions the buyer's due diligence will raise. This connects naturally to our 5-phase M&A process.

Yes, data centres are among the sectors where we have strategic consulting experience, alongside transport, aviation, ceramics and industry. We can apply commercial due diligence, market studies and feasibility studies to opportunities in this area.

The sectors we list reflect where we have a direct track record, but our analytical methods for market studies, feasibility and due diligence are transferable across industries. The free initial assessment is the right moment to discuss the fit, with no obligation.

Strategic consulting projects, such as market studies, are advisory work agreed at the outset and not transaction-contingent; the success fee model belongs to M&A/Corporate Finance mandates, not to consulting deliverables. The fee and its scope are defined and agreed before the project begins.

Yes. Financial due diligence work, such as quality of earnings, clarifies the true, recurring earnings base, which is precisely what an EBITDA multiple or DCF valuation rests on. We can link FDD findings to the valuation and to the distinction between enterprise value and equity value.

A feasibility study tests whether a specific project holds up commercially and operationally, producing a reasoned assessment you can act on, not just a description of the market. It is designed to support a clear decision on whether and how to proceed.

Yes. We work cross-border and across the country, so a foreign investor can rely on us both to size and explain the Portuguese market and to conduct commercial due diligence on a specific local target, with a coordinated team.

Strategic consulting can support decisions that then move into our other mandates, for example a feasibility study for a development that proceeds to development management, or a sector study that informs an investment we later advise on. Working with a single firm keeps analysis and execution aligned.

Yes. You deal with a senior team from start to finish, in a deliberate contrast to the leveraged, junior-heavy structure typical of larger consultancies. The same people who define the scope remain responsible for the analysis and the conclusions.

Yes. Due diligence frequently reveals areas for commercial or operational improvement, and our transformation work, whether commercial or operational, can then act on those findings post-deal. Keeping context across phases avoids relearning the business from scratch.

Our consulting work is national in scope, so a market or feasibility study can focus on specific regional markets and not just the main metropolitan areas. We assess each market on its own dynamics, wherever the opportunity sits in the country.

The deliverable is the reasoned analysis and conclusions of the work, with a scope defined and agreed with you at the outset to match the decision you need to make. After delivery we remain available to discuss the conclusions and the next steps.

Yes, all work is treated confidentially, and NDAs are a normal part of how we protect sensitive information, just as in our M&A processes. You can share whatever the analysis requires with that protection in place.

We can flag where tax matters such as capital gains, IMT or stamp duty influence a decision, but on the specifics we recommend a dedicated tax specialist rather than acting as your tax adviser. This keeps our advice anchored in our own competence.

Yes. A market or sector assessment can reveal fragmentation and consolidation opportunities, and, because we also run M&A mandates, we can take that reading into a buy-side process and the related due diligence. The analysis is built to be actionable, not merely descriptive.

The start timeline is discussed in the free initial assessment, where we define the scope against your calendar; you can reach us at geral@harborpartners.pt or +351 910 663 251 to get started. Because a senior team runs the work, scoping and mobilisation are direct and not delegated down a chain.