MSE Capability
Contract Structuring & Administration
MSE structures physical supply contracts so that price, delivery, quality and risk terms are correct at signing, and administers their execution so that what was agreed is what is delivered.
A physical contract is not a legal formality — it is the operating manual for the entire transaction. Most disputes are not breaches; they are ambiguities that were signed into the contract and only became expensive later.
Where value leaks
The terms that become expensive later
A price formula that cannot be hedged
A pricing clause is agreed without checking whether it can be cleanly covered in the market. The commercial term and the risk term are decided by different people, in that order, and the gap is paid for downstream.
Incoterms chosen by default
EXW, FCA, CIF or DAP selected by habit rather than by where risk, cost and control should actually sit. The wrong term silently transfers demurrage, insurance and title risk to the wrong party.
QP and acceptance left loose
Quotational windows, weighing and sampling rights, tolerances on chemistry and dimensions — left vague at signing, contested at delivery.
Documentary mismatch
The letter of credit, the contract and the shipping documents do not agree. Payment is delayed not because the goods are wrong but because the paper is.
Claims with no mechanism
No agreed procedure for quality claims, no timeline, no evidentiary standard. A recoverable claim becomes an unrecoverable argument.
How MSE works
Right at signing, held through execution
Terms are set on the exposure rather than on the template: the pricing clause is tested for hedgeability before it is agreed, Incoterms are chosen by where risk and cost should sit, and acceptance, QP and tolerance terms are made explicit at signing rather than left to delivery. Through execution, MSE holds the documentary chain and the delivery schedule to the contract and runs quality claims as a defined procedure with an evidentiary standard — so a claim is recovered, not argued.
Track record
Across a $4.5B+ physical book, MSE has structured and administered primary aluminium and alloy supply contracts — holding on-time-in-full delivery at 84–96% and cutting days sales outstanding from 55 to 38, settlement held to the contract, not to chance.
Mandate format
How an engagement is structured
Advisory mandate
Contract structuring and term review: pricing, Incoterms, quotational period, acceptance, documentary and claims terms.
Execution mandate
Administration of the contract through delivery and settlement, including documentary control and claims handling.
Engaged as a commission agent under the Swiss Code of Obligations, Art. 425–438. Fee structure — retainer and/or success fee — agreed per mandate.
Engage MSE
Discuss a mandate
Before you sign the next contract, MSE will make sure its terms are correct — and administer what follows.
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