Senior Advisor (Affiliate)
Mercer
Total years of experience :25 years, 6 Months
MERCER July 2018 - Present
Senior Advisor Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Mercer Investments is the largest investment consultancy firm globally (USD15 trillion in Assets under Advice, USD321 billion of Assets under Delegated Management, and 3, 800 staff across 44 countries). Mercer serves investors Pension Funds, Asset Managers, Family Offices, and SWFs. Armalia Partners is a sub-contractor to Mercer (see below)
Armalia Partners is a boutique advisory firm focused on fast-growing markets. Armalia operates either directly or as a subcontractor to larger firms. Clients include, for instance, Mercer (an investment and HR consulting firm), and Oliver Wyman (a strategy consulting firm)
Business Development (For Mercer or Oliver Wyman)
• Sourced and brought USD 750 m of assets to Mercer for its asset management business.
• Sourced a consulting project for Oliver Wyman to advise a government-owned stock exchange to develop its market data revenues.
Management Consulting / Investment Management (For Mercer or Oliver Wyman)
• Advised a Public Pension Fund to build the right organization to super its investment strategy and asset growth (From $16 to 32 billion of assets) including restructuring its investments department, defining a new target organization, defining new job descriptions, setting up a new operating model, benchmarking existing compensation benchmarking, defining a target salary structure, structuring a long-term incentive scheme, and defining an implementation roadmap.
• Defining Governance Framework, Target Organization, Job descriptions, Investment Policy Statement, Strategic Asset Allocation, as well as Investment and Monitoring Procedures for an asset manager.
• Defining investment processes for a large Asset Manager looking to develop joint ventures in Saudi Arabia with international or local partners.
• Selection of board members, and definition of a governance model for a tech company
• Training an investment team on business valuations and financial modelling for a large Sovereign Wealth Fund.
Family Office/Restructuring/Management (for Saudi Investors)
• Setting up a direct investment/family office (prepared investment strategy, business plan, budgets, etc.)
• Sourced and reviewed 200 deals between $1m and $50m in IT, Healthcare, Education, Business Services, and Consumer/Retail sectors.
• Prepared valuation and transaction documentation for a $10 m investment
• Portfolio company monitoring (financial statements analysis, cashflow forecasts, CFO recruitment, etc.) for a K12 school and nursery.
ICD (Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector) is the private sector focused subsidiary of the Islamic Development Bank. ICD is to IDB what IFC is to the World Bank.
- Sourcing, Processing and Monitoring equity, and debt investments in various sectors in the Middle East, Africa, Turkey & Central Asia, South and South East Asia.
- Restructuring the Direct Investment Department (Regionalization, Decentralization, New Product Development, Portfolio Monitoring Process, etc.)
- Best performing year in the history of the direct investments department (term finance approvals)
- Member of several Investment Committees (ICD, Private Equity, Money Market Fund)
- Member of Asset Liability Management Committee
- Member of Management Committee of ICD
Armalia Partners, Founder & Managing Director September 2010 - Present
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Armalia Partners is focused on building customized investment and business development solutions for institutional investors and family offices including:
- Investment in a European/North American/Asian firm with a development potential in the Middle East and Africa, with the right local partners
- Portfolio Management/Strategic and Operational Consulting to businesses seeking growth opportunities in the Middle East and Africa (International Joint Venture/International Expansion/New Business Development)
- Capital Raising
Private Equity
• Deal by deal project to identify and accompany European/North American/Asian firms with a growth potential (distribution, greenfield, acquisition) in the Middle East and Africa, with the right local partners.
• Europe - Middle East International Investment Vehicle: Structured a partnership with a $2.1 billion European private equity fund with a strong track record (150 exits since 2003 with a 23.4% IRR) to launch a € 100 to 150 m Europe - MENA private equity fund. Prepared PPM. Built investment team and deal pipeline.
• UAE Local Investment Vehicle: Structured a partnership between Armalia Partners and a €300 m private equity firm to launch a local private equity fund in the UAE.
• Algeria Local Investment Vehicle: Structured a partnership between Armalia Partners a €200 m private equity firm to launch private equity fund in Algeria.
Advisory
• Advised a Qatari organization to launch an SME investment vehicle operating across the MENA region
AABAR INVESTMENTS, Director of Investments September 2009 - August 2010
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Aabar is listed company, 71% owned by IPIC a Sovereign Wealth Fund, based in Abu Dhabi. Aabar has more than $10 billion under management across diverse industries including: automotive (biggest shareholder in Daimler), real estate, financial services, infrastructure, aerospace.
Agriculture & Food
• Leading the effort of Aabar to define and execute an investment strategy for the food security of the UAE.
Manufacturing
• Investment in Daimler followed by several international expansion projects in the automotive industry in Algeria. Key joint venture partners included Aabar Investments, the Algerian Government, Daimler, Ferrostaal, Rheinmetall, Daimler, Deutz and MTU.
Financial Services
• Micro Finance and Bottom of the Pyramid investing worldwide, with a particular interest in accelerating the development of Micro Finance in the Arab world.
Real Estate & Hospitality
• Hotel & Convention Center transaction in Jordan.
Private Equity
• Managing a joint investment partnership in Europe.
FIRST GULF BANK, Head of Private Equity. May 2008 - August 2009
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
FGB is a Top 30 Market Capitalization across the MENA region. I joined FGB to restructure its existing direct investment portfolio and to set up a $500m regional private equity business with offices in Abu Dhabi, Cairo, and Istanbul. $270 m were to be raised from the sale of existing real estate investments. In February 2009, FGB received a capital increase from the UAE government under specific conditions. One of them was to close several of its non commercial banking activities, including its private equity business.
Private Equity - Set Up a Private Equity Business focused on the MENA region
• Strategy & Budget: Prepared investment strategy, detailed budget, and PPM outline.
• Legal Structure: Initiated legal structuring of PE Fund.
• Incentive Scheme: Structured multi-office compensation plan for PE team.
• Recruiting: Managed recruiting process for three offices in Abu Dhabi, Istanbul, and Cairo.
• Investment Process: Structured investment process (sourcing, assessment, monitoring, etc.)
Private Equity - Assess, Monitor, and Restructure Existing Investments
• Real Estate Investment: a $270 m real estate investment portfolio in labor camps and warehouses. Reviewed five investments with a team of lawyers and real estate experts, identified various negotiation angles, and structured several exit strategy plans.
• Turnaround/Distressed Investment: a $5 m investment in a distressed construction business with 1200 employees. Prepared an investment review, changed auditors, recruited transaction manager, and suggested several solutions to restructure transaction.
• Venture Capital Portfolio: a $10 m portfolio of start up investments managed by FGB for a third party.
Private Equity - Source & Manage New Deals
• Regional Growth Equity Investment: Personally sourced, and executed a club deal transaction in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. This $25 m investment ticket was sourced and approved by my investment committee three months after my joining of First Gulf Bank.
• Launched corporate initiative to map attractive investment opportunities among FGB clients.
SWICORP, Investment Director. October 2004 - May 2008
Tunis, Tunisia
Swicorp is a financial advisory and private equity firm focused on the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) . I joined Swicorp Private Equity in what was a true start up environment. Today Swicorp Private Equity manages $1.3 billion across three funds.
Private Equity - Intaj Capital & Emerge Invest funds - $150 m fund (each)
• Deal sourcing in Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. I was based in Tunis, and travelled to Algeria and Morocco on a monthly basis.
• Business valuation, letter of intent negotiation, due diligence coordination, debt raising (LBO), deal structuring and closing.
• Industry experience: Sanitary paper, Paint, Specialty retail, Food, Retail, Insurance, Steel.
• Privatization of a leading paint manufacturer in Algeria.
• Regional build up transaction in Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya for a leading diaper manufacturer.
• Regional build up transaction in Tunisia, Morocco, and France for a car equipment manufacturer.
• Turnaround transaction for a Printed Circuit Board manufacturer based in Tunisia and Germany.
Private Equity - Mena Water Ventures - $67 m Corporate Venture fund with Danone
• Researched bottled water sector in the Mena Region.
• Assessed business plans and development strategies in collaboration with industry expert (top executive from Henkel/Danone)
• Prepared valuation model.
• Supervised commercial, financial, legal and operational due diligences.
• Negotiated debt restructuring agreement for a turnaround opportunity.
• Deal structuring and contract negotiation.
• Defined detailed action plan for first 100 days post closing.
Mergers & Acquisitions - Corporate Finance
• Distressed M&A: Prepared information memorandum for a distressed M&A mandate for a leading couscous and pasta brand in Tunisia
• Debt Raising: Prepared banking memorandum and negotiated a USD 20 millions financing in local currency field for a green project in the Algerian food industry for Savola, a Saudi Group.
ERNST & YOUNG (formerly Arthur Andersen), Manager. October 1996 - April 2004
Paris, France
With Arthur Andersen/Ernst & Young, I had very diverse experiences from Consulting, to Audit and Due Diligences. I spent 50% of my work in emerging markets, in the Middle East, North Africa, Sub Sahara Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. I was then one of two people to be sponsored for a Wharton MBA in the history of the firm in France.
Due Diligence, Privatization (Europe & Emerging Markets)
• Private Equity - Europe: Managed team of 10 to assist three private equity firms (Advent International, CVC, Carlyle) in the execution of an LBO on one of the subsidiaries of Lafarge.
• Privatization - Energy - Africa: Prepared the privatization of an electricity company in Cameroon with IFC (International Finance Corporation)
• Privatization - Financial Services - Central Asia: Projects: defined and implemented infrastructure strategy for a privatization program in Uzbekistan (World Bank and European Commission project)
Strategy, Operational and IT Consulting (Europe & Emerging Markets)
• Led cross-functional teams of 2 to 15 to carry out high impact consulting assignments across a dozen industries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
• Cost Cutting - Telecom - Eastern Europe: Defined cost reduction strategy for the international organization implementing the Dayton Peace Agreement in Bosnia Herzegovina (Office of the High Representative)
• Restructuring - Transport- Europe: Prepared decentralization strategy for, a British railway company.
• Restructuring - Software - Europe: Restructured the French service business of a leading software firm.
• Restructuring - Banking - Middle East: Prepared and implemented a restructuring plan for a Middle Eastern bank.
THE WHARTON SCHOOL, University of Pennsylvania May 2003 MBA: Dual Major in Finance and Marketing. Philadelphia, USA • Awarded an Arthur Andersen merit based sponsorship covering all tuition expenses.
• MBA exchange student selected to participate in the Wharton/INSEAD global alliance.
• Top 10% of the Class while working full-time for the French Air Force (journalist)
• Top 10% of the Class while working full-time at EDS (auditor) and OFUP (sales). Paris, France • Selected for exchange program at Westminster University, London. London, United Kingdom
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