Financial & strategic advisory · Developed & emerging markets
I turn strong businesses into investment cases that get funded.
Many companies know their product, operations and market inside out. Yet raising capital or evaluating an investment calls for a different skill set: the story, the financial model, the valuation and the process. I bring that corporate finance capability for debt and equity raises and for investment decisions, and lead the process alongside management, from preparation to close.
I've sat on every side of the table: M&A advisor at leading Wall Street investment banks on sell-side and buy-side mandates, lender, fund partner, founder CFO, board member and credit committee member. So I build the case the way investors and lenders will test it. And when I lead the process, they know the case has been built by someone who has made those decisions himself.
Nearly 30 years
In M&A, corporate finance, investing and CFO roles
$100M+ raised
Debt and equity, including DFIs, as founder CFO, without investment bankers
$6B portfolio
Global private debt, managed as interim head of credit
$1M to multi‑billion deals
Transaction sizes across my career, from growth companies to Fortune 500 clients
Why companies call me
Keeping the books is not the same as building the case.
Most finance teams are built to record and report: closing the books, audit, tax and compliance. That work is essential. But raising capital or deciding on an investment looks forward. It calls for credible projections, a robust financial model, a defensible valuation, the right capital structure, and a story that holds up under investor and lender scrutiny.
That is the gap I fill. I work alongside management and the finance team to “translate” the operations into the language of the capital markets. I can get a company investor-ready, to the point where a bank or investor will take it seriously. Where a deal doesn't need an investment bank, I can run the raise myself.
Credibility is part of what I bring. Investors and lenders know I have sat on their side of the table, as a lender, a fund partner and a credit committee member. When I lead the process, they can take it as a sign the case has already been tested: the numbers checked, the risks addressed, the hard questions answered. That can shorten diligence and strengthen your hand in negotiation.
Your finance team keeps the numbers right. I turn them into a case investors will fund.
Services
What I do
Raising capital
Debt and equity, from first institutional rounds and growth capital to project and development finance.
- Building the equity or credit story
- Financial model, projections and valuation
- Investor and lender materials
- Building and managing the data room
- Preparing management for the process
- Approaching investors, lenders and DFIs
- Leading the process through term sheet, diligence and close
Making investment decisions
For investors, groups, boards and investment committees evaluating an acquisition, an investment or a project.
- Valuation
- Building, reading and stress-testing financial models
- Investor-side due diligence: the model, the contracts, the assumptions
- Sell-side and buy-side M&A, joint ventures and privatisations
- Deal structure and terms, with an investment banker's and a lawyer's eye
- The questions worth asking before committing
Supporting capabilities
Interim & fractional CFO
Running finance through a raise, a transition or a growth phase, alongside the existing team.
Development finance
Raising debt and equity from DFIs and multilaterals, meeting their requirements, and building carbon credit revenues into the case where relevant.
Project & infrastructure finance
Structuring and financing projects so lenders and credit committees get comfortable.
Private credit & structured debt
Venture lending, mezzanine and private debt, including refinancings, restructurings and waivers.
Selected mandates
Recent advisory work
Not every mandate should end in a deal. Sometimes the most valuable advice is a clear reason not to proceed.
Strategic & financial advisor
Advising the executives of a multi-billion private EPC, financing and infrastructure group on investments, M&A, privatisations and joint ventures, in Africa and beyond. For each opportunity I build the valuation model, test the assumptions and structure the options, giving management a clear basis to proceed, reshape the deal or walk away. Opportunities have included:
- a pan-African mobile telecom operator and a national mobile operator privatisation
- a large-scale electricity transmission project and a large energy project in the Gulf
- potential investments in fintech, medical services and global solar energy companies
- agriculture investment concepts
Strategic, financial & capital raising advisor
Leading the capital raise for a growth-stage company: building the financial model and capital structure, and preparing a multi-instrument debt and equity raise for investors and lenders.
Financing advisor
Structuring lender financing for national inbound-visitor insurance programmes, and building the case presented to prospective lenders.
Sectors & capital
Sector-agnostic, in developed and emerging markets.
These are the sectors I've worked in and the capital I've raised from and worked with. The same approach applies in any sector.
Sectors I've worked in
Energy & renewables
Climate & circular economy: waste-to-energy, clean cooking, carbon credits
Infrastructure, power & utilities
Telecom & technology
Banking, insurance & financial services
Agriculture & healthcare
Growth companies across traditional sectors
Capital I've raised and worked with
Development finance institutions, impact investors and DFI-backed private equity, for debt and equity
International and local banks
Institutional investors and private credit funds
Venture debt and mezzanine funds
Private equity, venture capital and investment companies
Career
Investment banker, lender, founder CFO, board member, credit head, advisor.
Across the USA, Europe, Israel, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, on transactions ranging from $1 million to billions of dollars.
2024–present
Independent Financial & Strategic Advisor · Sagee Advisory
Advising companies, investors and project sponsors through defined mandates on capital raising, investment decisions and transaction structuring. The USA, Europe, Israel, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
2023–present
Non-Executive Director · Energy Vision
Board member since 2017; executive director until 2023, non-executive director since.
2023–2024
Interim Head of Credit · Altshuler Shaham Investment House
Managed a c.$6 billion global private debt portfolio at one of Israel's largest investment houses; member of the credit committee. Tel Aviv.
2015–2023
CFO & Co-founder, Deputy CEO from 2021 · Energy Vision
Built the finance function of a renewable energy services company for telecom operators in emerging markets; raised over $100 million in debt and equity from DFIs and leading international and Israeli financial institutions, without investment bankers. The company passed a $100 million valuation. Executive director on the board from 2017. Africa and Tel Aviv.
2014–2017
Venture Partner · Davidson Technology Growth Debt Fund
Advised on credit, portfolio and fund management for a European technology venture-lending fund. Berlin.
2014–2016
Managing Partner · SL Infrastructure
Brought Israeli institutional investors into US and European infrastructure debt; executed two transactions totalling c.$75 million. Tel Aviv and USA.
2008–2014
Co-founder & Partner · Mustang Mezzanine Fund
One of three founding partners of a $90 million mezzanine fund lending to mid-size Israeli and Israeli-related companies. Originated, executed and monitored transactions across technology and traditional sectors, and shaped the fund's investment doctrine. Tel Aviv.
1998–2008
Wall Street investment banking
Director, Acquisition & Infrastructure Debt Finance and Director, M&A Energy Group at Dresdner Kleinwort; earlier Credit Suisse First Boston and Wasserstein Perella. Sell-side and buy-side M&A, equity and debt for Fortune 500 clients, and acquisition financing for sponsors including Macquarie, Goldman Sachs and Carlyle. Managed a team of about 30 M&A associates and analysts. New York.
How I work
One advisor across strategy, numbers, documents and people.
From vision to execution
I'm hands-on: I build the model, write the materials and sit across the table from investors and lenders myself, from the first plan through to a closed transaction.
Finance in depth
Rigorous quantitative analysis paired with qualitative judgement: what the model says, and whether the business behind it supports it.
Across disciplines
Business development, accounting, tax, legal and operations, brought together so that a decision is examined from every angle at once.
Building the value proposition
Identifying what makes a company or project valuable, growing it, and presenting it persuasively to investors, lenders and partners.
Partnerships at every level
Working with management, boards, shareholders, investors and lenders, in small companies and large groups, in English and Hebrew, both at mother-tongue level.
Wall Street-grade work at any deal size
The same analysis, materials and process I delivered as an investment banker, applied to raises and transactions below the minimum size most investment banks take on.
About
Ran Sagee
Ran began his career in New York as an investment banker in M&A and energy and infrastructure finance at Wasserstein Perella, Credit Suisse First Boston and Dresdner Kleinwort. He then moved to the buy side as co-founder of a mezzanine fund, and spent eight years as co-founder, CFO and later deputy CEO of Energy Vision, where he still sits on the board. Having been the investment banker, the lender, the investor and the operator, he knows what each side of a deal needs to see.
Much of Ran's work has been in impact businesses: renewable energy for mobile networks in emerging markets at Energy Vision, clean cooking and waste-to-energy in East Africa, and infrastructure investment across Africa. He believes doing good and doing business go together, and that the strongest impact cases are the ones that also stand up as investment cases.
Ran holds an MBA (magna cum laude), including an exchange programme at NYU Stern, and an LL.B., both from Tel Aviv University, and was admitted to the Israel Bar in 1995, so he reads the documents as closely as the numbers. He works in English and Hebrew, both at mother-tongue level.
Ways to engage
Shaped around the decision in front of you.
I'm independent, with no product to sell, and I do the work myself. Every engagement starts with a short conversation and a written scope tailored to the situation and what it needs.
Capital readiness
Getting a company ready to raise. There is no fixed checklist: the work is shaped by where the company stands and what its investors or lenders will need. Ideally, start at least three to six months before you plan to raise.
Transaction mandate
A capital raise, acquisition or sale, from preparation to close. Typically a monthly retainer combined with a success fee on completion.
Defined project
A financial model, valuation, due diligence review or set of investor materials, scoped and priced for the deliverable.
Interim or fractional CFO
Senior finance leadership on a part-time basis, for a raise, a transition or a defined period of growth.
Contact
Raising capital, structuring a deal or evaluating a project?
A short conversation is usually enough to tell whether I can help. Engagements are confidential from the first call.