When Tom Sampson, executive managing director of the Taweelah Asia Power Company, was embarking on a bid for the right to own, operate and expand a power and water project in Abu Dhabi he realised it would take more than investment banks and lawyers to get the deal done. He turned to PIPC, a London-based project management consultancy. The deal went through in April 2005.

The bid was for a 40 per cent stake in a project that was the largest among a several sell-offs by the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) and was complex. It involved a consortium of four companies: Marubeni Corporation, the Japanese trading house; JGC Corporation, another Japanese company; BTU Power Company of the US and Powertek Berhad of Malaysia.