Danny Topperberg
Energy and resources transactions. Sydney and Hong Kong.
Focused on pipeline gas, LNG and the infrastructure that moves them. About twenty years across property, resources and cross-border capital.
Three things he checks before the model
The contract is what you actually own.
Diligence tells you what an asset is. The paperwork decides what you are left holding.
Price is the easy part.
It is the easiest thing in the document, and almost never the thing that decides whether you make money.
Small commitments first.
Whether a counterparty does what they said they would do, especially on small things. People who are slow with small commitments are slower with big ones.
His first serious deals were mineral off-take agreements, negotiated with Chinese state-owned enterprises during Australia’s mining boom.
Much of his work since has been at the physical end of the energy chain: terminals, supply contracts, and the restructurings that follow when a project underdelivers.
Outside energy, his private investments include hotels and property.
