Prior to founding deNovo, May spent nearly 16 years at Morgan Stanley in numerous roles and geographies including New York, Hong Kong, London and Dubai. Most recently, she was Head of Investment Banking for the Middle East and North Africa region, where, in 2005, she established, led and grew Morgan Stanley’s inaugural Middle East regional presence headquartered in Dubai. During her tenure with Morgan Stanley, May worked in a number of investment banking groups and in various leadership roles across Mergers, Acquisitions and Restructurings, Project Finance, Acquisition Finance, Liability Management, Private Placements, IPOs as well as pioneering Morgan Stanley’s Islamic Financing initiatives. May was the youngest woman to be named Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and the first Arab female Managing Director at Morgan Stanley.In 2015, May was named Business Woman of the Year for the UAE at the Arab Woman Awards Ceremony; the award was bestowed by His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan bin Mubarak Al Nahayan. May has been ranked in top 500 Most Influential Arabs in Arabian Business magazine in 2013 and 2012 consecutively and was similarly ranked in the top 100 Most Influential Arab Women.May was also featured in the Financial Times List of The Leading Business Women in the Arab World. May has often been invited to speak in multiple Global Business and Economic Forums and Conferences internationally and regionally addressing topics such as: Corporate Finance, Mergers, Acquisitions and Restructurings, Global Capital Markets, Initial Public Offerings, Corporate Governance, etc. and has been quoted in numerous business articles in international and regional news publications on various business and economic related topics. May is involved in a number of non-for-profit initiatives and serves as Chairwoman of the Lebanese International Finance Executive (“LIFE”).May graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“MIT”) with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science. May also received her Masters in Management and Finance from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. May comes from Lebanon and grew up in Kuwait before travelling to the US for her higher education. May is married and the mother of four boys.
CHAIRWOMAN
PARTNER
Jawad has over 16 years of investment banking and private equity experience.Prior to joining deNovo, Jawad was the Regional Head for Itaú Unibanco in MENA where he established Itau’s investment banking platform in the Middle East, with primary responsibility for covering Sovereign Wealth Funds and large corporates with interests in Latin America. In that role, Jawad advised a number of Brazilian and Latin American conglomerates on raising capital and establishing partnerships with Middle East investors, as well as advising on over USD 3 Bn worth of direct investment activity by SWFs in Latin America. Jawad has extensive buy side and investment experience having worked for Dubai International Capital (“DIC”), the Ruler of Dubai’s investment vehicle. He was involved in the leveraged buyout acquisitions of Doncasters Group and Travelodge Hotels in 2006, and led the execution and structuring of over USD 3Bn PIPE investments into HSBC Holdings, EADS, Sony Corporation and ICICI Bank. During his tenure at DIC, Jawad assisted in establishing and managing Jordan Dubai Capital (“JDCapital”), a country specific fund that managed c. USD 1Bn of assets in power generation, electricity distribution, Islamic banking, and real estate development in Jordan.Raised between the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain, Jawad graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University in Montreal, majoring in finance, and is a CFA Charter holder.
MANAGING DIRECTORS
Alexandre has over 16 years financial and strategic advisory experience in Western Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle-East.
Before joining deNovo, Alexandre was a Director and founding member at IOTA, a boutique investment bank based in Paris and Dubai focused on Sub-Saharan Africa. While at IOTA, Alexandre successfully advised corporates, financial investors and governments on acquisitions, disposals, fundraising, PPPs and strategic negotiations in over 10 different countries.
Prior to founding IOTA in 2010, Alexandre had worked as a management consultant for The Boston Consulting Group in Paris where he focused on the financial sector, and as an investment banker for J.P.Morgan in London where he covered the healthcare, consumer goods and retail sectors in Continental Europe.
Alexandre’s areas of expertise include regulated assets (concessions, PPPs), utilities, banks, TMT, industrials and consumer goods.
Alexandre started his career at Messier Maris & Associés, a leading independent French corporate advisor. He graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, where he majored in Economics and Statistics; he then received a Masters in Finance from HEC, Paris.
Alexandre speaks fluent French and English and basic German.
Rami has over 15 years of Investment Banking and Equity Research experience having joined deNovo from Thomson Financial’s Capital Markets Advisory team (now part of The Blackstone Group) in New York City.
Prior to joining deNovo, Rami spent nearly four years covering the North America Industrials sector. While at Thomson, Rami co-led the U.S. capital markets Analytical Services team, and was responsible for a public equities coverage universe of, amongst others, General Electric Co., Boeing Co., Whirlpool Corp., KBR Inc. and Ingersoll-Rand Corp. Rami also advised Mueller Water Products on their USD 165.9MM follow-on offering and Lear Corporation on their USD 520MM buyback plan initiation. More recently, Rami was a Director at DRS Capital, a regional M&A-focused advisory boutique where he advised Al Farida Investments, an AED 10Bn UAE-based hospitality/tourism/real estate investment company on a partial debt restructuring, and Icflix on a strategic tie-up with Naspers.
Rami sits on the Board of Directors of Al Rashid Group, a Bahrain-based Family office with interests in retail (Landmark Group Bahrain), real estate and private and public equities.
Rami obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Foreign Affairs (Intermediate Honors) from the University of Virginia in 2008. Rami is a CFA Charterholder and speaks fluent English and Arabic.
SENIOR ADVISORS
Ahmed is a former Partner and Co-Head of Investment Banking at deNovo Corporate Advisors. He has over 19 years of Investment Banking experience, nine of which spent in London and ten of which spent in the MENA region. Ahmed was awarded an “Emerging Leader” dealmaker in 2019 by The M&A Advisor.He joined deNovo Corporate Advisors in 2012. Prior to joining deNovo, Ahmed was an Executive Director in the European Financial Institutions Group (FIG) team of Morgan Stanley in London. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 2007, Ahmed worked in the Investment Banking divisions of UBS, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup.Ahmed has extensive Investment Banking experience, having advised on over $70 Billion of successful M&A, debt and equity related transactions. Ahmed has significant MENA M&A experience having worked across a range of transactions, including deals in the FIG, Consumer, Real Estate, Construction, Industrials, Metals and Mining and Education sectors. Ahmed read Economics at the London School of Economics.
Alex is a former Partner and one of the founding member of deNovo Corporate Advisors. He has over 22 years of international finance experience and has been responsible for the execution of over USD 35Bn of major transactions. Previously, Alex was with Morgan Stanley, where he was an officer in the Mergers & Acquisitions team in London and Dubai, leading a broad range of mergers, acquisitions, debt and equity financing and restructuring transactions.
Alex has been living and working in the region since 2007 and has extensive knowledge of and experience in all aspects of successfully advising clients in the Middle East on large transformational, often complex, regional and cross-border transactions.
Amongst other high-profile transactions, he advised Qatar Shipping in its USD 2.0Bn merger with Qatar Navigation, advised on the USD 1.0Bn restructurings and recapitalizations of Tabreed and SR Technics (on behalf of Mubadala) and while in London advised Philips in the spin-off and USD 8.7Bn sale of NXP and other complex buy- and sell-side transactions.
Alex holds an MBA from London Business School (LBS) and a BA from Babson College (magna cum laude) in Finance, Investments and Economics. Prior to attending LBS, he was a portfolio manager at a private asset management company in Germany. Alex has been a CFA Charterholder since 2003. He speaks fluent English, German and Greek and conversational French.
DIRECTORS
Rajiv joined deNovo from TPL Developers where he was an investment advisor. He started his career as an intern at Credit Suisse in New York and joined them full-time as an analyst in their London office. Subsequently, Rajiv worked in the investment banking teams at TD and RBC in London covering the Energy Sector. Rajiv graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering; he speaks fluent English and basic Hindi. Rajiv has passed Level I of the CFA Examination.
Leila joined deNovo from Attijariwafa Bank (Middle East) Dubai office where she was a financial analyst. Prior to joining Attijariwafa Bank, Leila had a year of internships in the investment banking sector in Paris where she worked at BNP Paribas Corporate Finance within the capital goods team and at Barber Hauler Capital Advisors, an independent financial advisory boutique. Leila graduated from Sciences Po Paris with a master’s degree in finance in 2012 and from Institut National Polytechnique Toulouse with a telecom engineering diploma; she speaks fluent English, French and Arabic.
Salim is an Executive Director at deNovo Corporate Advisors and has over 10 years of banking experience across different sectors and products (i.e. M&A, Restructuring, Buy-side).
Salim joined deNovo Corporate Advisors from ADQ Developmental Holding. Prior to that, Salim was part of HSBC Bank Middle East Advisory team focusing mainly on M&A transactions.
Salim has been working and living in the UAE since 2015 and has extensive knowledge in advising MENA/GCC clients on both regional and cross-border transactions.
Salim holds a MSc in Management from EM Lyon Business School (Diplôme Grandes Écoles) with a specialization in Corporate Finance and a Bachelor Degree from the American University in Morocco Al Akhawayn University. He speaks fluent French, English and Arabic.
VICE PRESIDENTS
Tobias joined deNovo from Barclays Capital in London where he worked within the EMEA Industrials coverage team. Tobias has also worked in the debt capital markets division, across multiple teams. Prior to this, Tobias interned in the investment bank at UniCredit, in Munich.
Tobias graduated from Anglia Ruskin University with a 1st class BA honours degree in Management, which he received via a scholarship programme with Barclays. Tobias speaks fluent English and German.
Ryan joined deNovo from VTB Capital, where he worked in the Global Investment Banking division for four years, in London and subsequently in Moscow, covering M&A, ECM and Financing transactions. Prior to this, Ryan started his career at Equiteq, a boutique M&A advisory firm in London, having previously interned at VTB Capital Investment Management and EVRAZ, a Russian multinational steel manufacturing and mining company.
Ryan graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge University in 2015 with a BA in Russian. He speaks fluent English and Russian and conversational French.
ASSOCIATES
Pierluigi joined deNovo partners from Lincoln International in Milan where he worked on numerous cross-border and domestic transactions across different sectors providing buy-side, sell-side and debt advisory services. Prior to joining Lincoln, Pierluigi interned in Milan in the Investment Banking boutique Translink Corporate Finance.
Pierluigi earned a Master of Science in Finance and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management both from Bocconi University.
He speaks fluent English and Italian.
Vincenzo worked as M&A Associate in the Business Service Team at Houlihan Lokey in London where he had exposure to several deals within the industrial and tech services space.
Vincenzo started his career at Vitale, an Italian based Boutique, where he worked on numerous domestic transactions across different sectors providing buy-side, sell-side and debt advisory services. Prior to this, he interned at Mediobanca in MilanVincenzo holds a Master of Science in Finance from ESADE Business School and a Bachelor of Science in International Economics from the University of Padua.
He speaks fluent English and Italian.
Christina joined deNovo from Strategy& where she worked in the Business Operations department. She started her career as a Credit Analyst and Controller in Beirut. Previously, she had an internship in Private and Investment Banking at Audi Private Bank.
Christina received her Master of Science in Finance with Merit from Imperial College Business School. She also studied at the American University of Beirut, where she graduated with a bachelor in Economics and a minor in International Law.
She speaks fluent English, French, Arabic and basic Spanish.
ANALYSTS
Saad joined deNovo Partners from PriceWaterhouseCoopers Dubai, where he was most recently part of the corporate finance advisory team as a senior associate, specializing in financial services transactions. Prior to this, Saad worked in the audit department, where he spent time auditing large financial institutions such as banks, insurance companies, and wealth management firms.
Saad graduated from the University of Toronto, where he earned a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours). He has also completed his Certified Public Accounting exams (US CPA) and awaits licensure pending completion of course hours.
Saad is fluent in English and Urdu. He is also proficient in Arabic.
Majd joined deNovo from Capital Bee, where he was a financial analyst within the advisory team. Capital Bee is a private equity and venture capital advisory firm with an investor base in the MENA region.
Majd graduated with distinction from University of Balamand, where he majored in Aeronautical Engineering and minored in Finance and Economics. He speaks fluent English and Arabic, and conversational French.
Anthony joined deNovo Partners after graduating with distinction from the American University of Beirut, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering and completed a minor in Economics.
Anthony interned as a project manager for both Maserati and PACE, a contracting firm in Lebanon.
He speaks fluent English, Arabic, and French.
Jad joined deNovo from Global Gate Capital – Asset Management where he worked as a Business Process Analyst within the Transformation Division. He started his professional career as an Assurance Intern for both PwC and KPMG in Lebanon.
He also had an internship as a Credit Control Officer at NASCO France. Jad received his bachelor’s degree from the Lebanese American University where he majored in Banking and Finance.
He is fluent in English, French, and Arabic.
Walid joined deNovo from DC Advisory Paris, prior to this, he was working in M&A Advisory at Edmond de Rothschild. He has also interned at Alten and Labeyrie in Corporate Development.
Walid received his ‘Grandes Écoles’ degree from SKEMA Business School where he majored in Finance; he also graduated with a Master’s in finance from ESCP Business School.
He speaks fluent English and French.