Balanscale
04

About Balanscale

A small firm for
large complexity.

Independent by structure, international in outlook and deliberately senior-led. Balanscale is built for situations in which judgment matters more than headcount.

The firm

One point of responsibility.
The right expertise around it.

Founded in Paris in 2024 and operating internationally, Balanscale assembles compact, situation-specific teams around a senior lead.

Depending on the mandate, that may include former executives or public officials, financial experts, legal counsel, political-economy specialists, sector experts and trusted local interlocutors.

The model is intentionally light: fewer layers, faster judgment, direct access and strict mandate discipline.

Leadership

Mohamed Toumi

Founder & CEO · Political economist · Conflict-resolution adviser

Trained at École Polytechnique and the Paris School of Economics, Mohamed Toumi brings twenty years across investment banking, sovereign advisory, entrepreneurship, distressed restructuring and governance. His experience was built inside complex systems under pressure — not at a distance from them.

Every Balanscale mandate is led by him. Specialist teams are assembled only where they strengthen the work; responsibility and the client relationship remain direct.

French & TunisianEngineer & economistEntrepreneur & adviserAnalytical & humanFrench · English · Arabic · Italian

Selected experience

Two decades inside
complex systems.

Across his career, Mohamed Toumi has advised governments, public institutions, listed groups, investors, founders and shareholders where financial, institutional and human interests had to be reconciled. The examples include work undertaken through Balanscale as well as earlier advisory, executive and entrepreneurial roles.

Sovereign advisory · Development finance · Institutional continuity

2016–2017

Government of Tunisia

  • Creation and coordination of the five-firm international consortium advising the Government on its 2016–2020 Development Plan and the Tunisia 2020 conference.
  • Leadership of a c. 50-person team across ministries, multilateral institutions and investors.
  • Organization of international investor and media roadshows in Washington, Milan, Paris, Brussels and London.

c. US$13bn raised · 146-project pipeline · 70 countries

Distressed restructuring · Governance · Financing

2017–2018

Jet Services Group

  • Acquisition and executive leadership of a business-aviation group in distress, including operating companies, real estate assets, a hotel and several planes.
  • Nine-month court-supervised restructuring across employees, creditors, investors, clients, counsel and regulators.
  • Continuation plan backed by a French investment fund.

c. €50m turnover · 200+ employees · €15m investment

Governance · Capital · Dispute finance

2022–2024

Litige.fr / Omni Bridgeway

  • Special advisory to the founder-president during a strategic, capital and governance reset.
  • Negotiation of an innovative portfolio-funding partnership with Omni Bridgeway.
  • Redesign of decision rights and reporting; realignment of founders and investors; management of senior executive transitions.

€6m litigation-finance partnership

Investor–State dispute · Settlement exploration · International arbitration

2023–2024

Zenith Energy v. Republic of Tunisia

  • Independent, non-appointed initiative to open a voluntary settlement channel during parallel ICSID and ICC proceedings.
  • Successive discussions with both parties, including the Prime Minister’s office.
  • Testing of a negotiated alternative to continued escalation over hydrocarbon concessions.

Parallel-track settlement initiative

Cross-border dispute · Property · Negotiated resolution

2020

BRIF TRES v. Republic of Serbia

  • Formal mandate signed by BRIF to initiate settlement discussions with the Republic of Serbia.
  • Mandated engagement concerning an ICSID dispute arising from a stalled shopping-centre development in Belgrade.
  • Assessment of legal positions, sovereign constraints and the project’s underlying economics in support of a negotiated resolution.

ICSID context · Mandated engagement

Political economy · Process architecture · Track II

2024–Ongoing

Libya political-unification initiative

  • Independent development and stress-testing of a system-level framework for political and institutional convergence.
  • Integrated design spanning territorial balance, revenue allocation, decentralised and federal options, local security incentives and economic integration.
  • Sequenced implementation architecture tested with a senior international advisory circle.

Independent initiative · Track II architecture

The examples above reflect work undertaken by Mohamed Toumi through Balanscale and in earlier advisory, executive and entrepreneurial capacities. The Zenith Energy initiative was pursued independently, without appointment by either party. The BRIF engagement was undertaken under a mandate from BRIF and does not imply appointment or endorsement by the Republic of Serbia. The Libya initiative is informal and carries no mandate from any Libyan authority. Certain assignments remain confidential.

Earlier representative experience

A record across institutions,
capital and operations.

I

States &
public institutions

  • Tunisia / STAR Opening of the capital of Tunisia’s leading insurance company.
  • Morocco / Caisse de Dépôt et de GestionPartial privatisation of Société Centrale de Réassurance and portfolio work involving Club Méditerranée and SCOR.
  • Tunisia / Tunisie TélécomTransaction documentation for the company’s privatisation.
  • Air Liquide / French StateCompetition analysis supporting negotiations on tariffs for electro-intensive industrials.
  • France / Caisse des DépôtsWork with a foreign State concerning a news channel in which it held a significant minority interest.
II

Governance &
special situations

  • Suez EnvironnementBoard independence and governance at the IPO following the GDF–Suez merger. Set-up of an in-house investment fund.
  • EurotunnelConsequences of the debt restructuring plan for the group’s largest shareholder.
  • TUIMinority shareholder positioned between opposing activists over the disposal of Hapag-Lloyd.
  • Club MéditerranéeCapital-structure and strategic advice to several parties, sellers and later buyers.
  • OneParkNegotiations between founders and industrial shareholders.
  • Le CollectionistGovernance transition and departure of the founder-president.
III

Transactions &
strategic advisory

  • EADSDisposals of Composites Aquitaine and EADS Seca.
  • NYSE-listed US industrial groupAssessment of a full acquisition of EADS Sogerma.
  • Latécoère / Airbus sitesCapital-increase financing for a Moroccan strategic investor, with senior political engagement.
  • NatixisAdvice to several key stakeholders in the creation of the group.
  • Tikehau CapitalAttempted acquisition of Commerzbank’s French wealth-management business.
  • France 24 / TF1Negotiation of the buy-back of TF1’s 50% interest in France 24.
IV

Entrepreneurship &
initiatives

  • Paris / Club Chauffeur Built an integrated mobility business to approximately €5m turnover, 80 employees and c. €5m external funding; launched Paris’s first full-electric private-hire fleet and the city’s largest fast-charging infrastructure, with electric vehicles reaching c. 20% of the fleet.
  • Tunis / Photomaton Built the franchise from the ground up and installed thirty automated photobooths within one year in public, commercial, diplomatic and military venues in the Greater Tunis Area.
  • Paris / PartaneaFirst team member and minority shareholder of the advisory boutique later sold to Oddo & Cie.
  • Lobbying / Nobel Peace Prize Co-Conceived and co-led a 2011 campaign to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the Tunisian people; secured the support of Jacques Attali and then-Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë.

“Inclusion creates balance at every scale.”

Mohamed Toumi

Confidential by design

When a situation is blocked,
the first conversation matters.

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