IJGlobal Awards 2024 – MENA judges
We are delighted today to be announcing the judging panel for IJGlobal Awards 2024, unveiling a team of experienced industry professionals who will deliberate company awards for the Middle East and North Africa region.
These awards recognise landmark developments from over the course of the 2024 calendar year, celebrating the organisations that contribute to the delivery of greenfield projects in the infrastructure and energy space, as well as refinance activity.
To access the awards submissions portal, click here...
We believe that the IJGlobal Awards are the single most transparent and peer review in this sector, and we pride ourselves on fielding regional teams of experts who assess submissions and vote (in secret) on the organisations that win them over.
The MENA judges will meet for Judgment Day in early January over Teams to debate the merits of companies that closed deals – project finance greenfield and refi – in that region over the course of 2024.
Judges are recused from casting a vote where they are conflicted. In effect, this means that lawyers cannot vote in the legal segment and bankers are not allowed to sway the decision in the MLA category.
The judges (in alphabetical order) for the MENA Judgment Day are:
- Christopher Cantelmi – IFC
- Abu Chowdhury – ASMA Capital Partners
- Adel Elsolh – Natixis
- Lina Kassas – MUFG Bank
- Oksana Maksymchenko – WSP
- Nawara Msallati – Besix
- Sami Neffati – Aberdeen Standard Investments
- Vishal Rander – Deloitte
- Ravi Suri – KPMG
- Dan Taylor – National Development Fund of Saudi Arabia
- Sarah Usmani – First Abu Dhabi Bank
- Laughlan Waterston – SMBC
- Catherine Workman – Pinsent Masons
Christopher Cantelmi
IFC
A regular feature on the IJGlobal panel for the Middle East and North Africa, Chris is a principal investment officer at the International Finance Corporation infrastructure and natural resources department working out of Dubai.
Chris is responsible for origination and execution of debt and equity investments in the power, water, energy and essential infra sectors throughout the MENA region.
He brings a depth of knowledge that greatly supports the judging panel in coming to a balanced set of award winners that reflect the previous year’s market activity. He is famed as a judge for once having had to leave a judging session early, sporting a bullet proof vest.
Chris led IFC’s efforts to support renewable energy programmes in Jordan and Egypt, while creating and structuring complementary low transaction cost, standardised limited recourse project financing programmes to support the many renewable developers participating.
Before joining the IFC in 2013, Chris served at the Mubadala / GE Capital (MGEC) JV for 3 years in Abu Dhabi as a director and head of energy and project finance.
Abu Chowdhury
ASMA Capital Partners
Another repeat judge from previous MENA award panels, Abu’s understanding of the regional market makes him a valued expert with a firm grasp on greenfield developments across infrastructure and energy.
Serving as the managing director and CFO of ASMA Capital Partners, Abu is also a member of the management committee and – alongside his role within the investment decision making process – is responsible for the finance function at ASMA Capital.
He is also a member of the board of directors on a number of investee companies of the fund.
Prior to this, Abu was a managing partner at EMP Bahrain and was responsible for managing IDBIF I, which returned more than $1.2 billion to its investors.
Before EMP Bahrain, Abu was with Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank where he was responsible for managing and structuring infrastructure and asset-backed investments.
Adel Elsolh
Natixis
Dubai-based managing director and co-head investment banking, coverage, and infrastructure energy finance at Natixis, Adel is responsible for the French bank’s activities across the Middle East, Turkey and Africa.
With more than 20 years’ experience in banking – including 9 with the RBS infra finance group in London covering advisory, lending and equity – he has deep experience across the infrastructure and energy sectors.
He has exposure to power, renewables, oil and gas, telecoms, water, waste, and social infrastructure as well as accommodation in META, delivering fixed rate solutions from institutional investors.
He has been based in the Middle East, covering the region since the summer of 2010, and – again – he is a regular judge on the MENA panel, bringing to bear his considerable experience.
Lina Kassas
MUFG Bank
Lina is head of structured finance for the Middle East and North Africa at MUFG, and she joins the IJGlobal judging panel for the first time this year.
She operates out of Dubai and has been based in the region for some time, having relocated there from Singapore.
Lina has had a particularly interesting involvement with infrastructure and energy having started her career at Qatar National Bank in Singapore, before moving to work at agri-business specialist Olam International where she was a risk manager managing commodity risk exposures and derivative instruments.
She switched back to banking in the summer of 2018 working with SMBC in Dubai and rising to the position of regional head of structured finance. Last year (2023), Lina switched sides to go work in the same position at Japanese rival MUFG.
Oksana Maksymchenko
WSP
Another judge who is new to the MENA panel this year, Oksana is an experienced strategic leader with more than 17 years in investment analysis, banking, project finance, refinancing, infrastructure, and PPPs, including valuation, structuring, due diligence, negotiations and execution.
Oksana joined WSP as a director in 2022 where she has served as a key member of the advisory services team. She has been instrumental in driving business strategy, managing client relationships, and coordinating complex infrastructure projects across the Middle East.
She is known for her ability to lead strategic bids, negotiate contracts, and manage consortium relationships, ensuring successful project delivery, collaborating with key stakeholders, including developers, governments, sovereign wealth funds, and financial institutions.
Oksana’s background spans fund structure and asset management, M&A, MBO, private equity, and venture capital, with a strong focus on delivering value in large-scale projects.
Prior to joining WSP, Oksana held a senior leadership role at CRCCI, one of the world’s largest integrated construction groups, where she led major infrastructure PPP projects, and collaborated with local and global partners to meet acquisition goals for large-scale infrastructure projects.
Oksana has consistently demonstrated expertise in managing consortium relationships and delivering complex projects that span sectors like transportation, energy, social infrastructure, healthcare, power, and water.
She started her career in investment banking, has continually leveraged her financial expertise to provide strategic guidance across various industries, making her a trusted adviser to both public and private sector partners.
Nawara Msallati
Besix
Nawara serves as head of project finance and Middle East concessions and assets at BESIX in Dubai, a role she has held since autumn 2020 – though this is the second time she has worked for the organisation.
At BESIX, she serves as lead, managing the full finance workstreams of the live project finance deals – from raising capital to financial close – while supervising the financial activities of existing subsidiaries.
Nawara joined BESIX Group from Citigroup where she led deals in the power, petrochemicals and utilities sectors out of Dubai from the summer of 2017 to autumn 2020.
Prior to that was her first stint at BESIX (2013-17) where she gained crucial experience to set her up for full control of the assets on the group – the role she currently holds – with the added benefit of experienced gained at Citi.
She started her career at Bank Audi before moving to Dubai for the first spell at Citi.
Nawara joined the IJGlobal MENA judging panel for the first time at the 2022 awards, making such a strong contribution that it guaranteed repeat invites.
Sami Neffati
Aberdeen Standard Investments
Sami is managing partner of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Investcorp joint venture focusing on infrastructure in the GCC and MENA region.
He has deep exposure to the infra / energy lending landscape and operates out of Bahrain.
Sami previously held the position of assistant general manager for energy at SMBC in London and even worked for a stretch on the famed WestLB team.
He is an emerging markets specialist with long experience in the MENAT region.
Sami headed Sumitomo’s business development for Africa and led teams working on financing projects in renewable energy, power generation, transmission and distribution.
He also worked as an adviser on projects in the MENAT region and to Japanese conglomerates on African markets penetration strategy.
Vishal Rander
Deloitte
Vishal leads Deloitte's project and infrastructure finance team in the Middle East and has been based in the GCC since 2011.
He has more than 18 years of professional expertise, focusing on PPP and project finance advisory services for both public and private sector clients.
IJGlobal reported on Vishal being made up to partner at Deloitte back in June 2022.
Vishal has successfully managed transactions across a number of sectors, including power, water, wastewater, solid waste, transport and accommodation.
He spearheaded the award-winning financial advisory team for recent wastewater deal of the year – Madinah, Buraydah, and Tabuk ISTP. Additionally, he led on the 2022 social infrastructure deal of the year – Zayed City Schools PPP.
Ravi Suri
KPMG
Ravi has become something of an IJGlobal celebrity in recent times, appearing on 3 Infra Dig podcasts where the ambition is to drive greater understanding of the infrastructure and energy asset classes… and how financing works.
In the summer, he featured in a podcast on the evolution of project finance, followed by an episode that looking into why infra goes wrong, and earlier this month delving into how PF can create peaceful nations while also working towards reversing climate change.
He is a long-established infrastructure specialist who returned to KPMG last year (November 2023) where he resumed the role of senior adviser on global infrastructure sustainable finance, attached to the Portugal branch.
Ravi has in recent years established himself as a key player in the Middle East, working first with AP Moller Capital and then Alpen Capital in private equity roles, operating out of Dubai. His new role back at KPMG sees him retain a Gulf focus, but on a more international level.
Ravi has deep experience across the infrastructure finance community having started his career at GE Capital in Europe before moving on to work with ABN Amro in Asia Pacific, then at Standard Chartered Bank in Dubai where he stayed for 15 years, starting the PF unit in 2002 and going on to serve as global head of project and export finance.
He left Standard Chartered in 2017 to join KPMG where he stayed for a little more than 4 years in Dubai serving as partner, rising to be senior adviser and global head of infra finance.
This was followed by spells as senior managing director at AP Moller Capital and then managing director at Alpen Capital – before his return to KPMG.
Dan Taylor
National Development Fund of Saudi Arabia
Currently an adviser to the National Development Fund of Saudi Arabia on a strategic infrastructure financing initiative, Dan is a well-known figure within the regional infrastructure community.
He started his career in leveraged and acquisition finance in Australia in 2000, continuing with UBS and Goldman Sachs in M&A advisory with a focus on the industrials, building materials and services sectors.
In 2008, he moved to the Gulf where he was head of investment for a UAE sovereign direct investment entity and then CIO for a large, diversified family group.
Dan recently served as head of structured finance at Al Rajhi Bank in KSA, leading the greenfield financing of a series of water, renewables and industrial projects.
Sarah Usmani
First Abu Dhabi Bank
Another first timer on the IJGlobal awards panel, Sarah is managing director and head of loan capital markets and sustainable finance at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB).
She has more than 20 years’ banking experience, having worked across project and sustainable finance, aviation finance, structured export finance, asset finance, structured finance, trade finance and financing solutions, and CRM for the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia.
Sarah joined FAB in 2016 from Standard Chartered, where she had been working for 16 years across a number of senior roles in London, Singapore and Karachi.
She advises clients on sustainable financing across sectors and concluded several landmark sustainable finance transaction for clients.
Laughlan Waterston
SMBC
Although he returned to London in late 2023, Laughlan continues to play an active role across the financing of Middle East and North African infrastructure and energy and is firmly plugged into activity across the region.
Laughlan in the summer of 2020 switched roles with Tom Waterhouse and took over the position as head of corporate and project finance at SMBC’s Middle East department based in Dubai.
He has more than 25 years’ experience in banking with the vast majority of those focused on project and structured finance.
He has experience on a wide variety of projects and corporates in the energy and infrastructure sectors including power, renewable energy, O&G, petrochemicals, waste to energy, wastewater, utilities, social infrastructure and transportation.
Laughlan’s roles and product areas include financial advisory, structured finance, corporate finance, acquisition finance, green/sustainable finance, debt capital markets, derivatives products and LP investment.
Catherine Workman
Pinsent Masons
A partner and head of the Middle East region for Pinsent Masons, Catherine is also the board sponsor for the law firm’s business in Saudi Arabia, while also serving as a board member of the British Aviation Group.
She is a projects lawyer specialising in PPP across a range of sectors with a particular focus on airports, ports and waste management.
Catherine has worked on projects across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Catherine has been delivering PPP projects for more than 25 years – including the first hospital PPP to achieve financial close in 1997 – and relocated to Dubai in 2019.
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