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Conference:
Day 1
18 Nov 8:15am - 6:00pm
Day 2
19 Nov 8:15am - 6:00pm
Pre-conference workshop:
17 Nov 9:15am - 5:00pm
Introducing private equity as an asset class.
Post-conference workshop:
20 Nov 8:30am - 5:00pm
The importance of due diligence.
Awards ceremony and gala dinner:
18 Nov 9:30pm
› Full conference programme
› Awards Ceremony
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Meet our speakers
Executive Partner,
Malaz Group (KSA)
Ahmad Al-Sari is a Founder and Managing Director of Malaz Capital, a Riyadh-based private equity and venture capital investment company specializing in knowledge-based companies. His career over the past thirty seven years parallels the history of information technology development in Saudi Arabia. He started as a computer programmer in 1970 at the Information Technology Center (ITC) of King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals and became ITC Director in 1976. In this position, he was responsible for the introduction of computer technology in the administrative and academic departments of the University as well as in many government organizations. In 1979, Ahmad Al-Sari co-founded Al-Khaleej/Al-Falak Group which is now a leading, diversified information technology group offering IT products and services in the Arabian Gulf region and Egypt. In June 2000 he co-founded Malaz Group, a venture capital group specializing in IT private equity investments worldwide and recently co-founded Malaz Capital. He graduated with a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in the United States of America in 1970. He is a member of the board of directors of:
- Al-Falak Electronic Equipment & Supplies Co.
- Al-Khaleej Training & Education Co.
- Malaz Technolgy & Communication Co.
- Computer Integrated Protected Chambers Co.
- Bakheet Investment Group
- IAIC Salama Insurance Co. and Chairman of the Audit Committee
- Al-Khaleej Training & Information Technology (Egypt)
- Al Wadi Medical Services (Yemen).
- Former member of the Board of Banque Saudi Fransi and current Chairman of the Audit Committee
Ahmad Al-Sari served as the Chairman of the first National Computer Conference, which was held at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, in 1974 and is a founding member of the Saudi Computer Society. He has served on the following boards and committees:
- Member of the Committee on Long Range Vision for the National IT Plan Project.
- Member of the Board of Director of the Centennial Fund
- Member of the Committee on Information & Communication Technologies at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Software.
- Member of the Organizing Committee of the first Riyadh Economic Forum.
- Member of the World Presidents Organization and Chief Executive Organization
- Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
- Member of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM)
- Member of the Board of the Gulf Venture Capital Association and Chairman of its 1st forum held in Bahrain in February, 2006 and the 2nd forum held in Riyadh in March 2008.
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President,
Afwaf Investment Company
Current position; President at Afwaf Investment, since January 2006
Previous Postions; President, Awalnet, 2003-2005 / President, Abdallah Aldubaikhi Consulting Office, 2001-2002 / Consultant and Technical Manager, King Abdullah Educational IT Project, 2000-2001 / CEO, Dowlog Technology Comapny, 1993-2000 / Project Manager, Sudi Industrial Development Fund, 1990-1993 / Exchanges Manager, Saudi Telcome Company, 1987-1990.
Previous Postions; Chairman, ARISP / Memeber IEEE / Member, Saudi Engneers Committee / Member, Saudi SASO, Electrical and Electronic Section / Member, Riyadh Chamber of Commerce, ICT Committee / Sub-Committee Head, Awaireness Program / Member, Sinse and Technology Committee, KACST / Member, National Educational Technology Committee, MOE / Member, YAL Board / Member, YPO (Young President Organization) and Professional Memberships and Social contributions
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Mr Abdullah A. Al-Khulaifi, Member of the Structured Finance Group,
Bayt Al Mal Investments (Kuwait)
My experience in Linux, open-source software development, and infrastructure tools enabled me to be a lead project manager in different IT fields in the beginning of my career. Through a programming competition, I have been selected by Zain Telecommunication (MTC at that time) to be a partner in the first Arabic SMS services company (ECC Ltd.) in the Arab world. Furthermore, I have been exposed to day-to-day IT operations with the largest international private schools company (IPE) in Kuwait. This experience added a lot to my management and communication skills especially with international workforce. Adding to the mix my government job that relate to security and application development enable me to tackle the internet platform backed by professional training. After finishing MBA from Kuwait University, I started my career shift by working with a new holding company in the Kuwaiti market. I had the chance to establish new companies through the process of developing the business plan, raising capital, and doing the government registration. Working with people from different nationalities and industries enabled me to make an easy shift to the investment field. Lately, I had the opportunity to work with an experienced team in the investment banking field at Bayt Al Mal Investment. I work on different real estate and private equity deals in the transportation and technology industries.
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Chief Executive Officer,
North Africa Holdings (Kuwait)
Mr. Emad Al-Saleh is the CEO of North Africa Holding (NorAH), the newly established KD 50 million company with the purpose of investing in North African economies. Prior to joining North Africa Holding Company as Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Al-Saleh held various key positions with Agility Logistics (formerly PWC Logistics) a publicly traded company and a leading global provider of integrated supply chain solutions with more than 20,000 employees worldwide and over $4.5 billion in annual revenue. During his tenure at Agility, Mr. Al-Saleh worked in the capacity of Director and Deputy General Manager, where he was instrumental during the company's dynamic growth period. Some of his past achievements include spearheading a team of 400 individuals to lead the largest and most successful operations of the company with revenues over $1 billion.
In addition, he also co-lead a team of active and talented professionals in their development endeavors through acquisitions and joint ventures, and helped to grow the company from about 450 to 18,000 employees through a period of four years. He also led the largest and most profitable division within Agility Logistics. Mr. Al-Saleh held numerous director positions representing the company on the board of Metal & Recycling Company, PWC logistics in Saudi Arabia, and Gulf Catering Company.
Mr. Al-Saleh started his career as a petrochemicals engineer with EQUATE, a Kuwait based joint venture between Dow Chemicals and Petrochemicals Industry Company. He is a well-known speaker in the region and has received numerous professional awards.
Mr. Al-Saleh holds an MBA from Thunderbird University Business School, The Garvin School of International Management, and a double Bachelor degree in Economics and Chemical Engineering from Tufts University in Massachusetts.
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Manager, Real Estate Investments,
Altouq Company (KSA)
Mr Jamil M Al-Saleh has been with the Altouq Company for three years managing the real estate arm of their investments globally. He previously worked for Fidelity Investments for five years as an investments specialist, stock broker and retirement consultant. During which, he acquired several licenses within the financial industry at the Dallas, Texas office. He subsequently moved into the real estate and mortgage industry after acquiring the respected licenses in the state of Texas. Mr Jamil M Al-Saleh then moved back to Saudi, working in real estate, construction and property management for three years prior to his current role with the Altouq Company. He holds a Business Bachelor degree from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee (Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA) with a triple major in Marketing, Finance and Real Estate & Urban Development.
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President,
Khalid Ali Alturki & Sons (Alturki Group) (KSA)
Mr. Alturki was educated in Saudi Arabia through high school and then went on to the US where he earned his BA in Economics from Williams College, Williamstown, MA in 1995. After working in business consulting with Arthur Anderson in New York City, he returned to the Kingdom to join his father’s business in 1999. The Alturki Group is a leading family-owned industrial investment group which has been operating in Saudi Arabia for over 30 years. The Group’s subsidiaries and joint venture companies are involved in contracting, trading, manufacturing, and consulting in major industrial sectors such as construction, energy, and environment as well as telecommunications, power, real estate and consumer electronics mainly in Saudi Arabia. Today Mr. Alturki is the President of Alturki Group and manages one of its largest wholly owned subsidiaries: Saudi Readymix, the leading ready-mixed concrete producer in the Kingdom (the company ranked #75 in the top 100 Saudi Companies list published in 2008). Mr. Alturki represents the Group on the boards of most of its joint venture companies and is also a Director of the Board of Bakheet Investment Group and a member of the Internal Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of Wala’a Insurance Company, both in Saudi Arabia. Outside of the workplace, Mr. Alturki is an active member of the Young Presidents Organization, Young Arab Leaders and a member of various committees within Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Mr. Alturki is also a founding member of the Board of Trustees of Mentor Arabia, an affiliate of the global Mentor Foundation which is a non-government and non-profit organization that was established in the Middle East to promote awareness and prevention of drug and substance abuse amongst the region’s youth.
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Chief Investment Officer,
Istithmar World Capital
John Amato has over 15 years of investment and advisory experience and joined Istithmar World Capital in 2006 as Chief Investment Officer. He is responsible for driving Istithmar World Capital’s global investment strategy, including overseeing the investment portfolio and managing the industry verticals.
Prior to joining Istithmar World Capital, Mr. Amato was a New York based Managing Director of IFIL USA where he was responsible for the US investing activities of IFIL Investments SpA - the investment vehicle of the Agnelli Group of Italy.
Prior to IFIL, Mr. Amato was Head of Financial Sponsors M&A for Banc of America Securities. Previously, he spent 10 years with Lehman Brothers in New York and London where he worked in the M&A and Merchant Banking Groups. Mr. Amato began his professional career with Arthur Andersen & Co. in San Francisco.
A CPA, Mr. Amato holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College where he was a Tuck Scholar and a BSC cum laude in Finance from Santa Clara University where he was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma.
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Chief Executive Officer,
ICT Ventures (KSA)
Mr. M. Barig Siraj is a senior level, multi-sector disciplined executive with twenty years experience in information technology, where fifteen of these years were engagements focused on delivering business value through management positions. Having an entrepreneurial business development intuition, Mr. Siraj has been able to solve seemingly intractable business problems while delivering workable solutions. Mr. Barig Siraj has done Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California in 1987. Prior to ICT Ventures Limited, he worked as Vice President IT at Civil Aviation Authority of Saudi Arabia. He successfully undertook Civil Aviation Authority's initiatives to implement world class operational capabilities of air ports in the Kingdom. Mr. Siraj had also worked for Communication and Information Technology Commission ("CITC") – the telecom regulatory authority of Saudi Arabia. At CITC he led a governmental drive to encourage PC and Internet usage in the country. Mr. Siraj started off his professional career as Information Systems Specialist with Saudi Airlines. At Saudi Airlines he lead the implementation of Saudia's Executive Information System efforts, allowing the executives to visualize the efficiency and profitability of all the Saudia flights of the previous day. Afterwards Mr. Siraj worked his way to become Chief Technology Officer of Arabia Online Limited. He was responsible for the realization of all new product development for a leading Internet Arab world Portal owned by Compaq / Intel / Kingdom Holding Shuaa Capital and other global and regional technology Investors, based in Dubai. He was the Chief Architect of the arabia.com site, re-engineering the infrastructure and he also introduced operating improvements that enabled a fourteen-fold increase in traffic. Other achievements at Arabia Online includes consolidation of data centers, development of Mersal Instant Messaging application, providing arabia.com with a competitive edge against international competitors and streamlining internal service delivery processes to provide world-class products and services. Mr. Siraj is very in Saudi Arabia's IT scene. He has represented various organization across the world in IT seminars and conferences. Mr. Siraj also devotes his time to community service in the Kingdom and it member of a number of charitable organization in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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Head of ME Private Equity,
Ernst & Young Middle East (UAE)
Yousef joined the firm as Partner in June 2008, leading the Middle East Private Capital Transaction Advisory Services Group.
Yousef has the responsibility to develop the relationships and transaction support services to the SWF’s and Private Equity clients in the Middle East.
He has spent the past twenty-three years working across a wide spectrum of financial services groups including a career with Citibank in Jordan, London and East Africa, HSBC Equator, Cairo Amman Bank and lead of Arthur Andersen’s Corporate Finance division in Riyadh.
Yousef will bring diversified technical financial & business skills into transaction advisory including deal negotiation and closure, structured trade and project finance, capital raising, deal structuring, M&A, valuations and other corporate finance skills.
CEO of VTEL Holdings Limited where Yousef was able to focus the company on core strategies, drastically restructure its team and reduce its costs and conclude the acquisition of a WiMax license and a GSM operator, in addition to launching two other operations.
Senior Manager at Arthur Andersen Global Corporate Finance (GCF) where he was tasked with the formal establishment of the corporate finance division.
Yousef advised Arthur Andersen’s major clients out of Riyadh, such as Kingdom Holdings, AGFUND and Al Hayat Newspaper.
Regional Manager at Cairo Amman Bank West Bank & Gaza and was responsible for day to day management and design & implantation of strategic plans, relations with tax authorities and several diverse regulatory and monetary authorities.
Yousef was an active member of the team negotiating the acquisition of Palestine Telecommunication Company (Paltel) License, securing a monopoly for Paltel and negotiating the purchase of the totality of the telecom assets from the PNA and served on its board.
Founding member and CFO of Loita Holdings Corporation, a pan African Investment Banking company.
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Managing Director ,
Capital Dynamics (UK)
Andrew Beaton is a Managing Director and co-heads the Capital Dynamics Co-Investment team. He has over 20 years’ private equity investing experience. Andrew joined GE Capital in 1988 and held a number of senior positions in Europe and the USA before becoming CEO of the European private equity activities of GE Capital. Andrew left GE Capital in 1999 and set up his own firm before joining Capital Dynamics. Prior to GE Capital, Andrew spent four years at 3i. He is a graduate of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. Andrew Beaton is a Managing Director and co-heads the Capital Dynamics Co-Investment team. He has over 20 years’ private equity investing experience. Andrew joined GE Capital in 1988 and held a number of senior positions in Europe and the USA before becoming CEO of the European private equity activities of GE Capital. Andrew left GE Capital in 1999 and set up his own firm before joining Capital Dynamics. Prior to GE Capital, Andrew spent four years at 3i. He is a graduate of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.
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Mr Faisal bin Juma Belhoul , Founder & Managing Partner,
Ithmar Capital (UAE)
A national of the United Arab Emirates and prominent member of the region’s business community, Faisal Belhoul, Founder and Managing Partner of Ithmar Capital, brings valuable insight and knowledge to the market, widespread investment, managerial and operational experience and an extensive network of contacts across the GCC states. Prior to founding Ithmar Capital, Faisal embarked on his senior management career with the Belhoul Group of Companies, a traditionally diversified, family owned conglomerate with a formidable reputation and notable history. It was during this time that he led the transformation of the Group, focusing mainly on redefining its strategy, creating management depth, repositioning individual companies, building growth platforms and ultimately, enhancing portfolio composition to maximize shareholder value within each of the individual companies. By 2001, the Group successfully reinvented itself as a regional asset management company, with investments in private equity, capital markets and real estate. Faisal was also Chairman of the Board for a number of business groups and associations, including the UAE Private Hospitals Council, the UAE Private Schools Councils and the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Equipment Business Group of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI). He is currently a board member of the DCCI as well as the Young Arab Leaders (YAL). Faisal is also an active participant on boards of various companies across the GCC as well as internationally. Educated in the United States, he studied Manufacturing Engineering at Boston University.
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Chief Economist and Head of Research,
Jadwa Investment Company (KSA)
Since June 2007 Brad has been the Chief Economist at Jadwa investment Company in Riyadh. He is also Head of Proprietary Investments for the company and sits on the Management Committee. Brad publishes regularly on issues related to the Saudi and global economies and the world oil market. He appears frequently in the domestic and international media and is a regular public speaker. For nine years prior to joining Jadwa, Brad was the Chief Economist at Samba Financial Group, formerly Saudi American Bank, in Riyadh. At Samba he was also head of cross-border risk management for the bank, which involved managing the bank’s exposures outside Saudi Arabia. Before joining Samba, Brad spent an 18-year career as diplomat, economist, and manager with the U.S. Department of State. During the last three years of his diplomatic career he was in Riyadh as the American Embassy’s First Secretary responsible for financial affairs, where he analyzed the Saudi economy for the U.S. Government and conducted financial aspects of US-Saudi relations. Brad served on the US negotiating team for Saudi accession to the World Trade Organization. Brad has his BA and MA magna cum laude from the University of Utah, and is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) charterholder.
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Vice President, Private Equity,
AB Capital (UAE)
Mr. Bruno Boustani has been in Private Equity and Consulting for more than 15 years. Prior to joining AB Capital as the Vice President of its PE practice, Mr. Boustani was a VP at Abraaj Capital in Dubai where he contributed in building the firm’s deal flow and assessing investment opportunities. Also, he represented Abraaj in one of its portfolio companies, a large regional oil & gas fabrication, marine offshore and ship building group, where he lead the group’s post acquisition, restructuring and M&A activities. Earlier, he was a strategy consultant with Booz | Allen | Hamilton and Arthur D. Little, advising clients on strategy, corporate finance, general management, IT, and organization with a focus on real estate, retail, healthcare and hospitality. Mr. Boustani holds an MBA in Strategic Management, Finance and International Business from McGill University, Canada and a BS in Management and Marketing from Northeastern University, Boston USA.
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Senior Partner & Chairman Asia,
Apax Partners Worldwide LLP (Hong Kong)
A graduate in economics from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, Max Burger-Calderon also holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He began his career at Dresdner Bank in Singapore and later joined The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Munich. After leaving BCG, he managed the successful turnaround of a family-owned tobacco company. In 1986, he co-founded CFP - Corporate Finance Partners AG with Michael Hinderer in Zurich. He launched the Madrid office of CFP in 1988 and co-founded the Munich office in 1989. CFP became a member of the Apax Partners Group in 1989. As of Mid 2005 he is heading Apax´s expansion into Asia and has relocated to Hong Kong. From July 2002 to June 2003, Max Burger-Calderon was Chairman of the EVCA (European Venture Capital Association).
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Vice Chairman & Managing Director,
IL&FS Investment Managers Limited (India)
Mr Shahzaad Dalal is Vice Chairman & Managing Director, IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd (IIML), one of India’s leading Private Equity Fund Managers with over US$ 1.6 billion under management. The private equity funds managed by IIML have a wide canvas across sectors in infrastructure such as telecom, transport, power and oil and gas as well as emerging areas in real estate, technology, retail, life sciences and consumer services. Mr Dalal currently leads a highly competent team of 40 professionals involved in managing over 70 investments. Mr Dalal is also on the Boards of various companies to guide their growth plans and other strategic developments. Overall, Mr Dalal assumes greater responsibility towards the crafting of exits through a range of diverse methods, including IPO’s and strategic sales. Prior to this, Mr Dalal was Chief Executive Officer of the Asset Management Business of IL&FS. Within the IL&FS Group he has undertaken various responsibilities including overall planning and raising of resources for IL&FS, its group companies and other IL&FS sponsored infrastructure projects. Mr Dalal has also headed the initiative for large value structured finance/transactions in leasing, project finance and privatizations. Mr Dalal is a Management Graduate from the USA
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Managing Director, Private Equity ,
Gulf Capital (UAE)
H. Richard “Rick” Dallas joined Gulf Capital as Managing Director of Private Equity Investments in 2007. Rick is responsible for and manages investment sector identification and analysis, individual transaction evaluation and deal execution at Gulf Capital. From 1999 to 2007, Rick was the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Oryx Capital International in Lake Forest, Illinois and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a firm specializing in the smaller end of mid-market private equity investing and growth capital. From 1985 to 1998, Rick was a Partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, one of the world’s largest law firms, where he helped establish offices of the firm in London and Riyadh. He managed the Gibson Dunn European and Middle Eastern offices from London from 1985 to 1989. While at Gibson Dunn, Rick was active in commercial transactions and investments in the GCC from 1980 to 1998, representing governments, financial institutions and private regional companies in the GCC and abroad and foreign investors with operations in the GCC region. Rick received an AB degree from Stanford University, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Southern California, where he served as a senior editor of the University of Southern California Law Review, was a member of the Order of the Coif and graduated first in his class.
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Columnist, Emirates Business 24/7 and presenter,
Business Tonight - Dubai Eye (UAE)
Richard has spent the past decade as a business journalist covering the Gulf Arab states. Based mainly in Dubai, he’s written widely for many of the world’s leading media companies, including The Financial Times, The Economist and Reuters. As a broadcaster, he launched and presented the award-winning Business Breakfast radio show in Dubai. Between2007 and 2008 he worked for Bloomberg News in London, where he was anchor presenter of the Bloomberg Business Breakfast radio show. Now back with Dubai Eye, he presents The Business Tonight. Richard is a sought-after public speaker. He’s worked as moderator at numerous conferences in Dubai, and hosted private events for companies including Lloyds TSB and Invesco.
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Vice President, Industries and a member of IFC’s Management Group,
IFC (USA)
Mr. Duff has been Acting VP Operations since February 2005 with responsibility for IFC’s new investment and advisory operations worldwide. Under his leadership, IFC substantially increased its annual investment business from $4.7 billion in FY2004 to 6.7 billion in FY06, while strengthening its development impact, making environmental and social responsibility a core value of its operations and improving the quality of its investments. He is responsible for IFC’s investment and advisory activities worldwide. He also heads the Municipal Fund, a pilot program for the World Bank Group to finance sub-national borrowers. The team is developing new approaches for the direct financing of municipal, state and other sub-national clients. Previously Mr. Duff directed the Global Financial Markets Department. IFC gives high priority to the building of local financial institutions, development of local debt and equity markets and introduction of new financing instruments. IFC’s investment in the financial sector accounts for more than a third of its total business and includes banking, leasing, housing finance, insurance, microfinance and securities markets. Technical assistance, advisory services and corporate governance complement these activities. Until April 2003 he was Director of IFC’s Infrastructure Department, which provides advice and financing to projects in a broad range of infrastructure sectors. He has also been involved in a wide range of advisory and other investment related activities, including heading IFC’s business in a number of Asian countries. Previously Mr. Duff spent 10 years with Mellon Bank as head of International Credit Policy and later as Vice President and head of business development for Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
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Principal,
Citadel Capita (Egypt)
Alaa El-Afifi joined Citadel Capital’s downstream team in 2006 as Principal. Since then he has helped in the establishment of the Arab Company for Energy (Taqa) which is currently the largest private sector distributor of natural gas for residential and industrial purposes in Egypt. He also assisted in the efforts which culminated in Citadel Capital signing an agreement with the Egyptian General Petroleum Company (EGPC) to build hydrocracking units adjacent to and benefiting from existing refining units at Mostorod, in the Greater Cairo region. Mr. El-Afifi now heads Citadel Capital Algérie and is helping identify opportunities in the Algerian market. Before joining Citadel Capital, Mr. El-Afifi was an associate at Goldman Sachs’ Industrials and Natural Resources team and its UK Team in 2004 then in 2005-6, where he worked on a number of high profile investment banking deals and advised clients such as Mittal Steel, Petroplus, Saint-Gobain, BP, Shell, BG, InterGen, MOL, SAS, ICI and Odeon Cinemas on merger and acquisition, equity and debt market strategy and raid defense activities. Mr. El-Afifi holds a BA in Economics and Business Administration from the American University in Cairo and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.
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Managing Director,
Kroll Advisors (UAE)
Based in Dubai, Tom Everett-Heath heads Kroll’s Gulf office, which was established in 2006. He joined Kroll's Middle East Practice as a Director in early 2005, having been Editor of the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED). Tom has worked on a number of M&A deals in the region, and international cross-border transactions for a broad spectrum of regional clients.
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Technology Transfer Manager,
Qatar Science & Technology Park (Qatar)
Paul is a Senior Consultant from Angle Technology in the UK, providing management and business development expertise, advice and currently providing support to knowledge-based small to medium enterprises seeking to locate to the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP). He has over 10 years of international expertise in technology innovation, adoption and commercialization, as well as experience in both public and private sectors. He has previously provided strategic advice and management for several entrepreneurship development socio-economic programmes. This has included the Economic Development Board and Enterprise Promotion Centre in Singapore and the UK DTI for high growth and government seed funds for investment into early stage businesses. He has delivered several investor readiness programmes to an international audience to aid business plan success and was also previously on the Management Board of the British Inventors’ Society in the UK. His current role at QSTP includes assisting in the generation of viable new proposals for start-up businesses and supporting technology transfer through a number of capacity building programmes. This includes the Proof of Concept programme, grant funding for educational and commercial entities, and a US$30m investment seed fund to finance the establishment of early stage technology related businesses to accelerate their formation in Qatar and to encourage economic diversification. Paul has an MSc in Management Consultancy from Salford University and is a member of the Association of European Science & Technology Transfer Professionals.
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Member of the Management Board, Financial Markets,
HSH Nordbanken (Germany)
Jochen Friedrich, born January 15, 1964, is trained as an industrial clerk. He started his banking career as a management trainee at JP Morgan Germany in 1990 after completing an MBA degree with an international focus at the European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel, Paris and Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. Following stints in New York and London, in 1995 Jochen Friedrich took over as Head of Fixed Income Sales and Futures & Options Execution & Clearing at JP Morgan in Frankfurt.
In 1998, he was appointed to the management board of JP Morgan Germany and became Head of Global Markets for JP Morgan in Germany and Austria. Following a short spell as Spokesman for the Board of Directors of A & A Actienbank AG in Frankfurt am Main in 2001, he transferred to DZ Bank in 2002, where he headed the Fixed Income operations for 5 years. Jochen Friedrich was appointed Management Board member responsible for the Financial markets division at HSH Nordbank AG effective May 15, 2007. In this capacity, he will be Head of Asset and Investment Management, Capital Markets Clients, Capital Markets Credit, Capital Markets Structuring & Trading, Group Treasury as well as the HSH Nordbank Securities S.A. and the London
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Founder,
Gandhi & Associates
Vishal Gandhi is a U.K. qualified lawyer, a Solicitor (Supreme Court of England & Wales) and an Advocate (Maharashtra & Goa). He is licensed to practiceIndian laws. He is also the founder of Gandhi & Associates (“G&A”) an Indianlaw firm with a focus on corporate, securities and intellectualproperty/information technology transactions. G&A is ranked as one of the top law firms in Mumbai, in practice areas such as venture capital and private equity fund formations and investments, mergers and acquisitions, capitalmarkets, technology media and telecom transactions and intellectualproperty/information technology transactions. From the beginning of his career, Vishal’s focus has been on cross-bordertransactions. He has been involved in numerous projects involvinginternational clients seeking advice on the peculiar Indian law issues thatneed consideration with regard to their transactions in India. Vishal recentlyadvised a global private equity fund with its US$ 100M acquisition of anIndian research and development company as part of acquisition of its Silicon Valley parent. Vishal has also advised G&A’s clients such as agencies of the Government of Japan, ABN AMRO Bank, State Bank ofIndia, US Polo Association, University of Rio Grande, Cisco Systems Inc,various global private equity funds as well as investee companies. Vishal also has the experience of working on transactions relating to venture capital and private equity fund formations, joint ventures and strategicalliances and acquisitions. For any further information regarding Vishal’s experience orcapabilities, please feel free to write to Vishal at vishal@gandhiassociates.com.
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Investment Manager, Strategic Investment Group,
Global Investment House (Kuwait)
Mr. Amitava Ghosal is currently engaged as Assistant Vice President with the Private Equity Group of Global Investment House. He is responsible for the execution of Private Equity investments in the MENA region. He has over twelve years of work experience in the financial industry and has carried out several private equity transactions in the region as well as in other Asian emerging markets. Mr. Ghosal has also been involved in expansion of Global’s reach in the regional markets in areas having strategic relevance for Global. Mr. Ghosal is a member of the investment committee of several of the PE funds managed by Global and is also on the Board of several of the funds’ portfolio companies. Prior to joining Global, Mr. Ghosal was the Assistant GM at ICRA Limited, India, which is an associate of Moody’s Investor Services and is the second largest credit rating organization in India.”
Mr. Amitava Ghosal is a Post Graduate in MBA (Finance) from Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, India. He did his graduation in Electrical Engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India.
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Senior Investment Executive, Infrastructure Asset Management, Managing Director ,
UBS Infrastructure Fund (UK)
Vincent Gilles, Senior Investment Executive, Infrastructure Asset Management, Managing Director, UBS Infrastructure Fund. Vincent has 17 years of investment industry experience. In Q3 2008, Vincent transferred to the ADIC-UBS MENA fund with a CIO function, based in Abu Dhabi. Based in London, Vincent was responsible for managing UBS’ European IAM business. Vincent joined UBS in 1998 having previously worked at J.P. Morgan and Société Générale. Prior to joining IAM in 2007, Vincent was an infrastructure and utility analyst for nearly 15 years. He headed the UBS European Infrastructure and Utilities (“I&U”) team from 2001 onwards and more recently was co-global coordinator of I&U.
Since 2000, Vincent was consistently ranked amongst the top 3 analysts in Europe and was voted third best analyst all sectors in Europe in the 2001 Extel ranking. Under his stewardship, the European team constantly ranked amongst the top teams in internal (UBS) and external rankings. In the last few years, Vincent published some ground breaking research on the future of nuclear energy and infrastructure as an investment theme. Vincent was involved in the successful listing of Enel, Snam ReteGas and PPC in the last few years. Education: IEP Paris, Berlin Universitaet, Universite Solvay
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Senior Executive Officer,
Millennium Private Equity (UAE)
Izzet Güney is the Senior Executive Officer of Millennium Private Equity Ltd (“MPE”), a DFSA regulated entity based in the DIFC in Dubai, UAE and the Managing Partner of MPE’s Telecoms, Media, and Technology (“TMT”) Fund. MPE had a first close on its Global Energy and TMT Funds in April 2008 in addition to investing USD100 million into a private placement of India’s leading mobile operator’s (“Bharti Airtel”) demerged tower business called Infratel in March 2008. The latter investment was entirely seeded by the Investment Corporation of Duba (“ICD”) which is the Dubai Government’s investment arm. His expertise includes originating, structuring and managing both equity and debt investments, and he is known as a highly reputable and successful principal in the TMT sector. From September 1997 until early 2006, Izzet was employed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (“EBRD”) as Head of EBRD’s TMT sector in April 2000. Prior to working for EBRD, he was Vice-President for Corporate Development at Paging Network International (“PageNet”), where he was responsible for formulating their strategy for the Asian region, which involved various targets across South - East Asia in addition to operations in Spain, Canada and Brazil. Before PageNet, from 1986 to 1996, Izzet was employed by SBC Communications (known as AT&T today) and was the Executive Director of International Corporate Development where he led the high-profile US$1 billion CATV merger with Telewest in the UK, along with other international projects in countries across Europe, Central and South America, Middle East and Africa. Over the past 20 years, Izzet developed a substantial network of relationships ranging from executives of global TMT corporations, financial institutions, and leading private equity houses to industry experts resulting in a second-to-none set of contacts critical in deal sourcing, execution, and exit with unparalleled returns. At EBRD, Izzet was responsible for originating, structuring, negotiating, executing and monitoring TMT deals. These deals cover equity transactions (IPOs, secondaries, private placements, Limited Partner roles, Investment Committee memberships, and Board membership of a NASDAQ-listed entity), all types of debt issuances (from project finance and unsecured corporate debt to bonds and leveraged buy-outs), and mezzanine financing. He was involved in the following selected major transactions while at EBRD: equity/equity-linked transactions involving Cesky Mobile and Cesky Telecom (Czech Republic), Orange Slovakia (Slovakia), BTC (Bulgaria), MTS, Golden Telecom, Gallery, National Amusements and Vimpelcom (Russia), and Unitel (Uzbekistan) and debt financings for K-Mobile and Kazakhtelecom (Kazakhstan), MTS (Russia), Vodafone (Albania) and Mobifon (Romania) amongst others. Izzet was valedictorian at the European Common Market High School in Luxembourg, has an MBA with Honors from the Garvin School of International Management -Thunderbird (1985) and a BS with Honors in Computer Sciences from the University of Texas - El Paso (1984). He is married and has four children.
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Managing Director and Board Member ,
Al Salam Investment (Dubai)
Mr. Pegman Haghshenas is a German national with over 12 years of significant hands-on experience in Banking, turnarounds and successful development of new business ventures in Europe and Middle East regions. Prior to joining Al Salam Investment he was Member of a foreign Bank with a focus on establishing the international Investment Banking activities from Dubai and the banks subsidiary on the DIFC.
Before moving to Dubai, Mr.Pegman Haghshenas established a company in Iran and Germany. He was responsible for the growth strategy and the portfolio expansion of the company. He than transformed the company in to a Joint Stock Company and sold a stake through a private placement to institutional investors. Mr. Pegman Haghshenas was trained in German Banks such as Commerz Bank, Chicago and HSH Nord Bank (former Hamburgische Landes Bank), Hamburg. He started his Banking career within Varengold Investment Bank.
Mr. Pegman Haghshenas holds a Master degree in Engineering and Economic from Technical University Hamburg, Germany.
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Executive Director,
Swicorp (UAE)
Mr. Hamza has over 19 years experience in oil & gas, finance, business development and private equity. He is currently an Executive Director at Swicorp, a diversified financial services firm operating through an extensive network of offices in the Middle East and North Africa. Swicorp is currently one of the largest and most active Middle Eastern private equity firms. Mr. Hamza manages the day to day activities of the Swicorp Joussour Company, a private equity vehicle managed by Swicorp that is structured as a Saudi Joint Stock Company, which is focused on petrochemicals, energy-intensive industries, oil & gas, and infrastructure investments in the MENASA region. Swicorp Joussour Company was established in 2007 with an authorized capital of SAR 2.67 billion (US$ 712 million). Prior to joining Swicorp, Mr. Hamza was a senior executive at Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP) in Dammam executing and managing private equity investments focused on the Middle East energy industry. Prior to APICORP, Mr. Hamza was Group Business Development Manager with the Alturki Group, a diversified industrial conglomerate in Saudi Arabia, where he managed the Group’s business development activities including origination, sourcing, evaluation and negotiation of new business ventures and acquisitions. Mr. Hamza also held management positions at Arco International Oil & Gas Company (ARCO) in the United States, Saudi International bank in London and Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia and the United States. Mr. Hamza holds an MBA from Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
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Chief Executive Officer,
Arab Business Angels Network (UAE)
Walid S. Hanna: is Chief Executive Officer of the Arab Business Angels Network (ABAN) and has 11 years of diverse experience in corporate finance, start-up ventures and private equity. He started his career in banking with a focus on corporate finance from 1997 until year 2000. He subsequently founded, co-founded and managed several start-up ventures across a range of industries primarily in Lebanon. His most recent position prior to joining ABAN was with the Investment Management team of a leading regional Private Equity Firm. Walid holds a Bachelor degree with a major in Economics from McGill University in Canada and a Masters in Finance from HEC in France.
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Chairman & Co-Founder,
Citadel Capita (Egypt)
Prior to co-founding Citadel Capital, Dr. Heikal was an executive board member of EFG-Hermes Holding, where he was at different times the managing director of all four divisions: private equity, brokerage, investment banking and asset management. He joined the firm when it had three professionals and helped transform it into the leading investment bank in the region.. From 1999 to 2001, he was the driving force behind the development of EFG-Hermes’ private equity activities in his capacity as Managing Director of Private Equity. He spearheaded highly successful private equity investments, one of which led to the creation of Egypt’s leading IT company (Raya Holding) and another to the nation’s largest natural gas distribution company (Genco). In his securities work, Dr. Heikal led key transactions including raising three rounds of finance for leading regional mobile telecommunications operator Orascom Telecom; the IPO of global building materials giant Orascom Construction Industries; the IPO of Orascom Hotels; and the IPO of El-Ezz Steel, as well as the subsequent convertible bond to finance the acquisition of ANSDK. Dr. Heikal holds a PhD and a Masters degree in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management from Stanford University.
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Chief Investment Officer,
Istithmar World Capital
Felix Herlihy has over 20 years of investment and advisory experience and joined Istithmar World Capital in 2006 as Chief Investment Officer. He is responsible for driving Istithmar World Capital’s global investment strategy, including overseeing its global investment portfolio and managing the industry verticals.
Prior to joining Istithmar World Capital, Mr. Herlihy was a Managing Director at IFIL USA where he led the US direct investing activities of IFIL Investments SpA - the investment vehicle of the Agnelli Group of Italy with net assets in excess of $5 billion.
Before IFIL, Mr. Herlihy spent 18 years with Lehman Brothers in New York and London where he was a Managing Director and a Principal of Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking (LBMB). Prior to joining LBMB in 1995 to focus exclusively on private equity investing, Felix spent 10 years as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers where he worked on a wide variety of corporate finance and M&A transactions. Felix began his professional career at Fred Alger Management where he was a Senior Portfolio Analyst.
Felix holds an MBA from Columbia Business School where he was a Samuel Bronfman Scholar and an AB magna cum laude in Economics from Harvard College.
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Managing Director - Head, Global Transaction Banking - MENA,
Deutsche Bank
Mike Hughes joined Bankers Trust in 1988 in the fixed income area of the bank running a dedicated operations team covering Eurobonds, MTNs, Commercial Paper and Escrow products. Mike was asked to set up the American Depositary Receipt business as part of Trust & Securities Services (TSS) in London during the early 90s and then relocated to Hong Kong to establish the banks ADR presence in Asia. Mike returned to London in 1998 to head the Product Management function for the ADR group with direct responsibility for the strategic direction of the business, the P & L relationship and transaction management, administration, operations, broker services, compliance, risk control and business policy.
During his tenure with the ADR group Mike developed a financial product which now has patent protection on a global basis while also being actively involved in the structuring and establishment of many new emerging markets depositary receipt programmes including “firsts” from Bahrain, Russia and India. Mike is now a senior member of the GTB management team as well as an Executive Committee member of Deutsche Bank in the Middle East. Mike heads the GTB franchise in the Middle East capitalising on his extensive experience of debt, equity and cash products. Mike has built a large team of professionals to service the banks clients in the region across the cash, trade and securities services business and is expanding the franchise across the GCC, Maghreb and Levant regions.
Mike has been quoted in the following publications: Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Business 24/7, Financial Times, Financial News, Asia Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Asia Finance and EuroWeek as well as appearing on Bloomberg TV providing market commentary. Mike is a member of the Securities Institute (UK), is registered as a Senior Manager within the DIFC and is qualified as an Authorised Person for the purposes of the Financial Services Act.
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Principal,
Emerging Markets Partnership (Bahrain)
Mr. Jafar has been with EMP Bahrain since 2005 where he is responsible for managing the portfolio of the US$730 million Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Infrastructure Fund. Before moving to Bahrain Mr. Jafar was based in London as an Associate Director at Henderson Global Investors, where he was responsible for principal investments in leveraged loans, mezzanine and second lien financings on behalf of structured and life funds. Prior to this, he was a Director at Fitch Ratings, London, for two years, and was responsible for rating and monitoring leveraged transactions, including senior, mezzanine and high yield debt, across a range of industries. Mr. Jafar has also worked as an Associate at JP Morgan in the Leverage Finance group and has been an Assistant Manager at KPMG in London for three years. He started his career at Smith & Williamson in Audit & Corporate Finance where he worked for five years. Mr. Jafar is a member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), and has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from Middlebury College, USA.
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Group Director,
Jashanmal Group
Born on the 26th July 1947, Tony Jashanmal started his career with Jashanmal Group in 1971 when he took on the responsibility of the Department store, Consumer Products Distribution, Newspaper/ Magazines Distribution, Courier Services across the GCC and today he holds the position of Managing Director for Jashanmal – Kuwait, and Board Member of Jashanmal Group.
Alongside his direct interest in Jashanmal Group, he has held positions with external organizations including: Board Member of the Vidhyadhan Educational and Cultural Foundation in Kuwait, Board Member of Faips (DPS associate school in Kuwait), President of the Hunting and Equestrian Golf Club in Kuwait.
Tony is a keen traveler and is often invited to speak on retail issues in the Gulf as well as Family businesses and the development and changes within the “merchant” retail families.
He is a member of : Oriental Club, London, Royal Overseas League, London, Emirates & Creek Golf Clubs, Dubai, Royal Palms Golf Club , Mumbai. He had his Intermediate Schooling at Campion School, Mumbai, and then went to Aiglon College, Villars, Switzerland for his high school education. He graduated from the University of Hamburg, with a Masters in Economics (Diplom Wolkswirt). Married and with one son and one daughter. His son is following the Jashanmal family heritage and is an active member of staff in the Jashanmal Dubai team and his daughter is pursuing post graduate studies in the U.S.A.
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Co-Founder and Managing Director,
Trikona Capital (USA)
Aashish Kalra is the Co-founder and Managing Director of Trikona Capital, the leading fund platform for investment in the Indian infrastructure and real estate sectors. Trikona's diversified portfolio of investments span the residential, commercial, infrastructure, hospitality, healthcare and the industrial sectors. Mr Kalra is also the Manager of Trikona Trinity Capital, a £250 million fund listed in 2006 on the Alternative Investment Market and now fully invested in real estate and infrastructure in India. Previously Mr Kalra was involved in various IT and Venture Capital companies. He was Managing Director and Co-founder of Spydre Technologies, a venture incubator. At Spydre he built a portfolio of more than a dozen companies. Mr Kalra was a partner at the venture capital firm, Cambridge Technology Enterprises, Boston (CTE). He was also a co-founder of a venture fund, Cambridge Samsung Partners, Boston with Samsung of Korea. Mr Kalra is frequently quoted in international media outlets. He is a frequent speaker and has participated in industry events in New York, Europe, India, China and the Middle East. Mr Kalra has a Masters degree in international finance from Brandeis University, Waltham, US and a BA (Hons) in economics from St Stephens College, Delhi.
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Managing Director,
Equity-I (UAE)
Mr. Kawash is Managing Director of Equity-I, a Dubai based private equity firm that focuses on investment opportunities in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Clients include government investment arms, institutions, family offices and corporations seeking expansion capital. The management of Equity-I have directly advised on deals worth over $ 500 million in equity including landmark deals in Algeria, Guinea, China, and the U.A.E. Mr. Kawash has over 12 years of experience in private equity and infrastructure finance in emerging markets. Mr. Kawash began his career in commercial banking and then joined Taylor DeJongh Inc., a leading emerging markets infrastructure finance boutique based in Washington and London and later joined Emerging Markets Partnership (“EMP”), an international private equity group focusing on emerging markets with seven funds holding around $6 Billion in cumulative capital commitments.
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Executive Vice President and Director,
Kuwait Financial Centre S.A.K. (Markaz) (Kuwait)
Ali H. Khalil has over 20 years’ investment banking experience. During his career, he structured, launched, and participated in the management of several investment funds covering a wide range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income, derivatives, real estate and private equities. In addition, he led several investment banking mandates including equity and debt issues, and M&A transactions in the MENA region. Mr. Khalil is currently the Executive Vice President at Markaz and its Chief Financial Officer since 1997. He heads the investment banking division, which includes Corporate Finance, Real Estate, Oil & Gas and Structured Finance. He joined the Markaz Group in 1988 as Vice President of Mar-Gulf Management, a Markaz subsidiary in Los Angeles, California and is currently its Managing Director and in charge of Markaz’ real estate investments in the US. He is also a Director of Markaz Energy Fund. He received a BS in Industrial Engineering and an MS in Operations Research from Texas A&M University and an MBA from INSEAD, France.
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Mr Dr. Laurent Lavigne du Cadet, Chief Executive Officer ,
AMWAL (Qatar)
Dr. Laurent Lavigne du Cadet is the Chief Executive Officer of Amwal. Prior to joining Amwal, Dr. Laurent Lavigne du Cadet headed the oil, gas, and energy Investment Banking group of Millennium Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of Dubai Islamic Bank, in addition to being a Fund Manager of the Dubai Global Energy Fund, a fund sponsored by Dubai World and Dubai Islamic Bank. Dr. du Cadet has a vast experience in the energy sector and has acted as a financial adviser for some of the largest European and American corporations, such as Total, Technip, Pride International, General Electric, and Alstom. Additionally, he successfully advised several energy funds from the GCC for their investments in oil and gas companies.
Dr. Lavigne du Cadet was also a founder and Managing Partner of Alternative Finance Partners, a merchant bank specializing in oil and gas project development and financing, with a particular emphasis on upstream and midstream projects. The geographical experience of Dr. Lavigne du Cadet covers former Soviet Union territories such as Russia and Kazakhstan and China along with the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Nigeria and Algeria. Dr. Lavigne du Cadet began his investment banking career with JP Morgan in Paris where he specialized in oil and gas listed companies after spending two years in Abu Dhabi with the French embassy. Dr. Lavigne du Cadet holds a business school diploma and a Ph.D. in international finance from University Paris IX Dauphine.
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Chief Executive Officer & Chairman of the Board,
Ithmaar Bank (Bahrain)
Mr. Lee has 35 years of experience as an international investment banker serving multilateral, governmental, corporate, financial institutional and high net-worth clients, at Merrill Lynch in London, Hong Kong and New York, and at Dean Witter, where he was Chief Executive of Dean Witter Capital Markets-International in London. In 1992, he became a senior adviser at the Kingdom of Bahrain's then Ministry of Finance & National Economy, providing inter alia strategic advice on the development and regulation of the Bahrain International Financial Centre. Immediately prior to joining Ithmaar Bank, he was with Emerging Markets Partnership, which he joined as Managing Director in 1998, and where he was Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Emerging Markets Partnership Bahrain, 40% owned by Shamil Bank of Bahrain, a subsidiary of Ithmaar Bank; EMP Bahrain is the general partner and manager of the US$ 930.5 million Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Infrastructure Fund.
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Chief Executive Officer,
MENA Infrastructure Fund (UAE)
Mark Lemmon, the Chief Executive Officer of the MENA Infrastructure Fund, was previously Deputy Chief Executive of HSBC’s global Project and Export finance business, responsible for growing that business over recent years to its current pre-eminent position in infrastructure and energy finance. He has substantial experience leading business development and winning and executing financing mandates across transportation, social infrastructure, power, water and energy sectors throughout the Middle East and elsewhere. An investment banker of twenty five years standing, he is a chartered accountant and holds a masters degree in finance from the London School of Economics.
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SVP and Head of Investments,
FORSA
Ms. Mayet, Senior Vice President, is responsible for the role out of FORSA’s private equity arm of investments to maximize value for FORSA’s investors. Tasneem brings over a decade of investment banking experience with her; most recently, she was Vice President and Co-Head of Equity Capital Markets at Millennium Finance Corporation in the DIFC (part of the Dubai Islamic Bank group of companies). Prior to that, she managed a pipeline of equity offerings and established an equity syndications channel for Mashreqbank in Dubai, as their Head of Equity Origination and Distribution.
Tasneem began her career at Societe Generale in Singapore, and then joined Bear Stearns in London where she served as Vice President in European Equity Capital Markets and in Equity Research until 2004. She has been involved in Depositary Receipt, Convertible Bond and Ordinary Share issues globally. Her deal list includes (i) USD 12m Luxembourg GDR – tech, (ii) USD 160m NASDAQ IPO - biotech, (iii) USD 400m NYSE/LSE convertible bond – pharma, and (iv) AED 3,178m DFM IPO – real estate. Tasneem holds an MSc (London School of Economics, UK) and a BA (Boston University, USA).
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Consultant,
Emerging Markets Partnership (Bahrain)
Mr. Michalowski has over 20 years of experience in global infrastructure industry, with focus on energy and telecom. He has worked for several years in Canada as designer and then project manager for Gulf Canada and PetroCanada. Prior to coming to the Middle East in 2006, Mr. Michalowski was Manager, Project Finance with Hong Kong-based IPP developer Hopewell/CEPA, then worked for several years for Bank of America as Vice President, Project Finance, advising and arranging financing for power and energy projects across the Far East and India. He then served with Lucent Technologies as Managing Director, Project Finance and subsequently with Chinadotcom as Managing Director, Corporate Finance and Treasury. Most recently, as Principal Private Equity, he has worked on a number of energy and renewable energy projects at Al Salam Bank Bahrain. Mr. Michalowski has a Master Degree in Business Administration from Warwick Business School, UK.
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Managing Director & Head of Placement & Fundraising,
ABC Investment Banking (Bahrain)
Mike heads ABC Investment Banking’s Placement & Fundraising Group, specializing in alternative assets funds and focused on the MENA region. Mike joined ABC from Actis, the leading emerging markets private equity firm, where he was responsible for fundraising and investor relations. Prior to Actis he worked at Deutsche Bank’s New York-based global private equity fund placement group, where he was responsible for managing fundraisings for private equity and structured alternative asset funds. Previously he was an investment banker with Deutsche Bank and Barclays, based in Asia. Mike holds an MBA from the Wharton School.
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Managing Director,
Thomson Reuters MEA (UAE)
Basil Moftah joined Reuters in Egypt over 10 years ago, through the European Graduate Program. He started in the client training department, demoing and training users on Reuters 3000 product series. He later moved to Italy as a sales executive selling Kondor+, a risk management systems. Later, his career took him to Milan for a short assignment in finance, and then to London and San Francisco for 2½ years as an investment associate in Reuters venture capital group. After being away for 2 year on an MBA mission in Harvard, he came back as a regional head of Business Direct for EMEA, based in London. He held this post for 3 years and now is ready for my new challenge in MEA as the Managing Director of Thomson Reuters MEA based in Dubai.
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Managing Director,
Instrata Capital (Bahrain)
Mr. Simon Monk is a Managing Director with Instrata Capital and is responsible for infrastructure investment. He is a former infrastructure investment banker with UBS Investment Bank in London where he worked for over 11 years until 2005. During his career he has advised on over US$50 billion of equity and debt transactions for infrastructure projects and companies. His previous infrastructure clients include the UK Government, the Saudi Railways Organization, Network Rail and London & Continental Railways amongst others. He has extensive infrastructure experience and has worked across a range of sub sectors including power, water and transportation and with clients in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Mr. Monk is also experienced in infrastructure privatization, project finance and international mergers and acquisitions and has advised private companies, private equity funds, as well as public companies listed on the London and Australian stock exchanges, on corporate transactions with a value in excess of US$30 billion. Mr. Monk holds a diploma in Corporate Finance from the ICAEW and a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Durham, United Kingdom.
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Senior Vice President,
Marsh Private Equity and M&A Practice (UAE)
Dominic Moody is a Senior Vice President of Marsh, serving as a Regional Practice Leader for its Private Equity and M&A Practice in the Middle East. Prior to moving to Dubai in 2007, Dominic had responsibility for the UK Regional Hub of dedicated staff in Manchester for nine years where they provided Risk and Insurance Due Diligence services to Private Equity Firms, Banks and Corporate Clients on over 500 transactions.
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Founder and Managing Director,
Preqin Ltd (UK)
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Head of Real Estate Funds, Alternative Investments Group ,
Global Investment House (Kuwait)
e is the Head of Real Estate Funds in the Alternative Investments Group of the Investment Manager that manages around $500 million real estate assets under management. He has over 12 years of professional experience in fund management, Islamic finance, investments and Corporate Real Estate. Rakesh joined Global in mid-2003, initiated the real estate fund management practice at Global and currently has 5 real estate funds under management.
The various funds have assets under management in the following jurisdictions: The United States, Asia region, The Gulf and MENA. The various funds have invested capital into all the three investment sectors such as Core, Value Added and Opportunistic. Prior to joining Global, Rakesh was employed in Singapore and India, with leading international real estate advisory and valuation firms including, Jones Lang LaSalle, Colliers, Savills, Insignia (now CBRE). Rakesh is invited on a regular basis as a speaker at various local and international real estate/investment conferences. His views on Islamic real estate funds are well accepted in the gulf region and internationally. Rakesh is a post-graduate in business administration from T.A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal, India.
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Managing Partner,
Capital Industries & Investments (UAE)
Amer Salah has over 15 years of experience in investments and strategy development in the Middle East. Mr. Salah has played an instrumental role in the listing of two companies on the Amman Stock Exchange, led an equity raise assignment for a Real Estate developer in the UAE, and has successfully exited a number of businesses including a leading contracting company in Jordan, a plastic manufacturer in Belgium, and partial exit to a strategic investor of a pharmaceutical company in the UAE. Mr. Salah holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Toledo, USA.
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Head, Principal Finance I Middle East & North Africa ,
Standard Chartered Bank (UAE)
Mr. Hossam Shobokshi heads the Principal Finance business for Standard Chartered Bank in the MENA region. He has substantial investment experience across the MENA region in both in private equity as well public markets investment management. Mr. Shobokshi served on the boards of Nile City Investments, Bisco Misr, Cairo Housing and Development, United Housing and Development, Suez Industrial Development Company, and APEA (the Arab Private Equity Association). Mr. Shobokshi is a graduate of the Wharton School - the University of Pennsylvania (Honors).
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Board Member,
Nomad Capital (Algieria)
Adel was until recently Vice President at Carlyle in charge of the Maghreb Region. He previously managed a boutique emerging markets consulting firm that executed the purchase of Telecom Malagasy on behalf of Distacom Ltd, a Hong Kong based telecom operator, as well as other mandates in North Africa, Eastern Europe and South America. Before that, Adel worked for JP Morgan London, where he was a member of the UK Resident non-domiciled team, with a focus on international-based clients. The team focused on M&A transactions with family-owned companies across various sectors. Today, Adel is leading Nomad Capital efforts in North Africa, and principally in Algeria, on both investment banking and private equity activities. Adel has an MS in international finance and a BA in engineering from Pole Lorrain Nancy (Mines and ICN). Adel speaks French, English, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, and has working knowledge of Bulgarian.
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Executive Director,
Abraaj Capital (UAE)
Mr. Frederic Sicre has over 16 years of experience in global issues, regional development agendas and community building. In the early 90's, he established the activities of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Africa and the Middle East. He then managed the Forum's Centre for Regional Strategies and was promoted to WEF Managing Director in June 2000. As Managing Director at WEF, he was responsible for the move of the 2002 Annual Meeting in Davos to New York City as a sign of support to New Yorkers after 9/11. In June 2003, he was responsible for the Extraordinary Annual Meeting in Jordan following the Iraqi conflict. Mr. Sicre has initiated dialogue and reconciliation initiatives during South Africa's transition to democracy and between Palestinians and Israelis. He has also initiated the first Africa and Arab World Competitiveness reports. He is a founding member of the Arab Business Council and editor of South Africa at Ten - a book celebrating the ten years of democracy in the country. Mr. Sicre brings a vast network of decision makers from around the world in all fields of activity such as government, private sector, media, and culture. Mr. Sicre holds an MBA from IMD, Switzerland, a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences from Villanova University, Philadelphia and is a fellow of Stanford University, Palo Alto. From 2002 to 2005 he served as a member of the international advisory board of Scripps Medical Foundation, San Diego, USA. Currently serves on the advisory board of Dubai Cares.
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Senior Economist at Sovereign Asset & Liability Management Division, Monetary & Capital Markets Division,
IMF (USA)
Manmohan Singh is presently with the Sovereign Asset & Liability Management Division of the IMF in Washington DC. He was previously with ABN Amro Bank's emerging market syndicate team (Amsterdam/London). Dr. Singh is recently involved in IMF's work in SWFs and has also leads workshops on strategic asset allocation issues to official sector policy makers. He also continues to write extensively on various topics including, the recent sub-prime losses and capital injections to financial institutions. He was the one of the first to identify the role cheapest-to-deliver bonds as a proxy for recovery value in CDS instruments. His articles have appeared in Euromoney, RISK, Journal of Investment Management , HedgeWorld and he been interviewed by major newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, El Cronista (Argentina), Valor (Brazil) etc. His work experience covers several countries including Chile, Argentina, India, Japan, Pakistan, Hungary, Poland, Namibia and the Gulf countries. He holds a Ph.d. and MBA from Univ. Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and a B.S. (magna cum laude) from Allegheny College, Pennsylvania.
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Senior Vice President, Energy Group,
HSH Nordbank (New York)
Mr. Rohan Singh is a Senior Vice President in the Energy Group of HSH Nordbank where he heads the Investment Banking and Principal Equity Investments group. He focuses on structuring debt and equity transactions for renewable energy projects in the Americas. Mr. Singh has over 10 years of energy banking experience during which he has been involved in originating, structuring, and syndicating several transactions in the power industry, especially clean energy.
Prior to HSH Nordbank, Mr. Singh spent four years with Calyon Corporate and Investment Bank’s Project Finance group in New York and before that he was at the World Bank in Washington, DC where he worked on financing infrastructure projects in South Asia and Africa.
Mr. Singh is a graduate of University of Delhi (India), with Honors as a BA in Economics, received his MBA from the University of Poona (India), and a Master’s in International Affairs from Georgetown University, with a concentration in Finance and International Business.
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Managing Director, Head of Corporate Finance,
ABC Investment Banking (Bahrain)
Allan is Managing Director and Head of Corporate Finance at ABC Investment Banking part of Arab Banking Corporation based in Bahrain. Allan joined ABC in August 2007 from Standard Chartered Bank, Dubai where he led the advisory and acquisition finance team covering the ME region. Prior to this he worked at HSBC Investment Banking, Dubai where he was a senior member of Corporate Finance and was primarily involved in IPOs and privatizations across the MENA region. Allan has over 10 years of Corporate Finance experience in the region and is actively involved in advising family-related businesses.
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Chief Executive Officer,
Riyada Ventures (Jordan)
Khaldoon Tabaza (37) is Chairman and Managing Director of Riyada Ventures. Starting his career as an entrepreneur, and subsequently as an investment professional, he has successfully established, managed and invested in many high-profile technology, communication, cleantech, biotech, finance, and media ventures both in the Arab world as well as internationally. In 2006, Khaldoon was selected as a Young Global Leader by the Young Global Leaders Forum of the World Economic Forum. Khaldoon’s track record over the past 12 years includes involvement in National Technology Enterprises Company, Zad Capital, the IDEAVELOPERS Technology Fund, Arab Business Angels Network, iPARK Technology Business Incubator, National Technology Group, KFUPM Technology Business Incubator, M3 New Media, Mubasher, NetAdvantage, OneCard, XtraNet, MediaScope, KindiSoft, Arab Advisors Group, Arabia Online, Arabian Communications and Publishing Company, BYTE Middle East Magazine, and the Arabic edition of Popular Science Magazine. Khaldoon has worked and lived in Jordan, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. He is a recognized figure across the region and an activist who proactively promotes the development of indigenous knowledge-based industries in the Arab world through investment and entrepreneurial support activities. As a writer, he has contributed a wealth of articles to regional and international publications. As a speaker, Khaldoon has presented at a number of international conferences including World Paper conferences in Boston and Dubai, the Industry Standard’s Global Internet Summit in Barcelona, The Silicon Alley Reporter’s International Network conference in New York, MIT’s Alumni Club conference in Cairo, and the Wharton Business School conference in Dubai. Media appearances included Wired magazine, ZDNet, The Industry Standard, The Herald Tribune, BBC World, CNBC, and The World Paper amongst others. Khaldoon was elected as a board member in the Arab Private Equity Association, a pan-Arab association under the Arab Economic Unity Council of the Arab League. Dr. Tabaza has graduated from the college of Medicine, University of Jordan. He is based in Amman, Jordan.
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Chief Executive Officer,
The GCC Energy Fund (UAE)
Adil is the Chief Executive Officer of the GCC Energy Fund, a private equity firm that invests in the energy and power sectors in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. As the founding CEO of the region’s first energy sector focused private equity firm, Adil has been able to build a portfolio of diverse companies with exceptional value creation potential. Adil is a director on the board of Dhofar Power Company, Gulmar Energy and Stellar Energy (MENA), all of which are companies in which the GCC Energy Fund has strategic holdings. Prior to his present role, Adil was associated with the global oil and gas industry for over 20 years, having managed various businesses for Schlumberger, the world’s leading oilfield services company, the last 5 years in the position of President. Adil holds a Masters degree from Columbia University in New York.
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Managing Director, Head of Private Equity ,
Swicorp (UAE)
Mr. Triki joined Swicorp in 2003 and heads Swicorp’s Private Equity activities. Since joining Swicorp, Mr. Triki has spearheaded the development of the private equity activity for the firm, which today comprises of over 30 investment professionals and over USD 1.4 billion under management. Mr. Triki's responsibilities include defining the overall strategy of the business line, developing key elements of the firm's private equity product line, building the team, raising funds, interacting with investors, overseeing transactions across the value chain - from origination to execution-, and representing Swicorp at Board level within portfolio companies.
Prior to joining Swicorp, Mr. Triki spent several years as a Project Leader with the Boston Consulting Group in Paris where he led numerous business strategy, corporate development and operational restructuring & organisation assignments for leading international companies, with specific focus on Consumer Goods & Retail, Technology & Telecom, and Industrial Goods. Whilst at BCG, Mr. Triki also helped launch a EUR 100m corporate venture capital fund. Prior to post graduation Mr. Triki worked as a Project Manager for Honeywell in Los Angeles and in Corporate Development for Unilever in New York. Mr. Triki holds an MBA from University of Chicago and a Masters in Engineering Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Mr. Triki speaks English, French and Arabic.
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Business Development Director,
Rakeen (UAE)
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Managing Director,
Swift Capital Partners (Germany)
Wolf von Wrede is Managing Director of Swift Capital Partners. Previously, he worked for one of the largest German family owned conglomerates, Franz Haniel & Cie., where he headed the M&A department. Subsequently he held positions at Allianz Capital Partners as well as at a German private equity fund-of-funds manager. Wolf was involved in numerous national and international private equity transactions and sat on the advisory board of Autobahn Tank & Rast Holding, one of the largest German buyouts at that time. Wolf is a trained banker and holds a Diplom-Kaufmann degree.
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Head of Private Equity,
Abu Dhabi Investment Company (UAE)
Robert Wages is the Executive Director at ADIC responsible for the Private Equity (“PE”) Department, overseeing all private equity activity, both direct and PE fund investments. He is also a member of ADIC’s Management Committee responsible for the implementation of the company’s overall strategic objectives. Wages joined ADIC in February 2007, and prior to that, he was CEO of a privately-owned industrial automation firm in upstate New York, USA, which he joined after spending 17 years with the New York City private equity firm of Castle Harlan, Inc. At Castle Harlan, he was directly involved in 23 private equity transactions with an aggregate value of USD 1.8 billion in North America and Europe. In addition to his transactional experience, Wages has significant board level experience with companies in diverse sectors including manufacturing, distribution, financial services, aviation services, food service, and retail. Wages began his career at Oliver, Wyman & Co., USA, a business strategy consulting firm, providing consulting services in the financial services arena. During his tenure at Oliver, Wyman & Co., he worked on consulting projects in corporate strategy and implementation in the financial services sector in North America. Wages has an AB in Chemistry from Princeton University, USA.
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Managing Director,
Landmark Partners Europe (UK)
As Managing Director of Landmark Partners Europe, Lance Whitehead is responsible for transaction origination, business development and investor relations across Europe and the Middle East. Prior to joining Landmark in 2003, Mr. Whitehead established Cygnus Capital Ltd, the corporate finance boutique that raised the capital to establish CNBA Arabia. Previously, he was a Director of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein’s Private Equity Team. He has also worked with Merrill Lynch and Citibank in London and with Banque Indosuez in Bahrain.
Before his investment career, Mr. Whitehead was a senior officer in the British military, serving as an advisor in the Kuwait Army for 2 years. A keen sportsman, Lance has represented Great Britain as a bobsleigh driver and as an offshore sailor at World Championship level.
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Partner, Executive Vice Chairman,
Partners Group (Switzerland)
Urs Wietlisbach is a founding Partner of Partners Group, a member of both the board of directors’ business development committee and private equity investment committee, serves as an execu¬tive vice chairman and is responsible for the firm’s marketing strategy. He was initially responsible for the firm's partnership investment activities and instrumental in building Partners Group's private equity funds portfolio and a global industry network. Later, he also focused on business development responsibilities, first in Europe, and subsequently in the USA and the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to founding Partners Group, he was an ex¬ecutive director at Gold¬man Sachs & Co. where, after assignments in London and New York, he was appointed head of the firm's institutional clients business in Switzerland. Previously, he was a relationship manager for multinational corpo¬rate clients at Credit Suisse in New York and Zurich. He holds a master's degree in business administration from the University of St. Gallen (HSG).
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