Aidan Karibzhanov has a strong background in strategic privatisations, structured finance transactions and securities placements for the largest Kazakh and Russian companies and working with government institutions. As the leading investment banker in the region, Mr Karibzhanov successfully completed the privatisation and further flotation on Kazakhtelecom and was involved in the establishment of GSM Kazakhstan, which is the leading provider of mobile ’phone services in Kazakhstan. Between 1994 and 1999, Mr Karibzhanov managed the investment banking and brokerage business at Global Kazkommerts Securities and Kazkommerts Securities. Subsequently, Mr Karibzhanov was Managing Director (Finance) of KazMunayGas, which is the Kazakh state oil and gas company. Mr Karibzhanov is presently the President of VISOR Investment Solutions JSC. Mr Karibzhanov obtained a Masters degree in International Business from the Moscow Institute of International Relations.

Atul Patel is Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer, at Compass Asset Management in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He is Chief Investment Officer of the public equity portfolio Tau Capital plc. Atul joined Compass in July 2007 and moved to Kazakhstan at the same time. Atul has over 22 years of experience of international financial markets having gained a comprehensive background in investment management that combines fundamental bottom-up stock selection with strategy formulation and managing money for both institutional and retail clients around the world. During his career Atul has worked for Shearson Lehman Global Asset Management, Gartmore, Bankers Trust, F&C Investment Management and Daiwa SB Investments, all based in London. At F&C, where Atul spent over ten years,he managed a top quartile global equity fund that outperformed the MSCI world by 4% p.a. He also built up a specialist global equity business with $3.5bn under management before moving on to head up international equities where he was responsible for over $6bn of total equity assets at F&C. Atul obtained his MBA from Warwick Business School and a BSc (Hons) degree in Mathematics from Brunel University.

Nikolay is a partner at VISOR which he co-founded in 2001. For the last fifteen years, Nikolay has been involved in investment banking and private equity activities across a wide number of sectors in Kazakhstan, Russia and Kyrgyz Republic. Nikolay started his career with Deloitte & Touche in early 1990s in Moscow. He also served on Russia’s State Privatisation Committee. In 1997-2000, Nikolay led the corporate finance business of Kazkommerts Securities, a subsidiary of the leading bank in Kazakhstan. Nikolay has an MBA from the Oxford University Business School and a Masters degree in International Accounting and Finance from the Moscow Institute of International Relations. Nikolay is a native Russian speaker and is fluent in English.

Darius joined Spencer House Capital Management in June 2008 and is responsible for identifying and executing private equity opportunities for Tau Capital plc. He began his investment banking career at Citigroup (previously Salomon Brothers) in 1997 where he focused on telecommunications, media and technology sectors and worked in New York, Hong Kong and London, advising clients on a variety of M&A and other corporate finance transactions in the US, Europe and Asia. Following his MBA studies in 2003, Darius joined Merrill Lynch in London and in 2004 he moved to Credit Suisse’s Media & Telecom investment banking team, where he advised clients on a number of M&A, private equity, debt and equity financing transactions across Europe and Emerging Markets. Prior to joining SHCM, Darius was a Vice President in the Equity Capital Markets group, where he advised Russian, CIS and emerging markets clients on IPOs and private placement transactions. Darius holds a BSBA with Summa Cum Laude Honours (major in Finance) from the University of Denver and obtained his MBA degree (major in Finance) from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2003. Darius is fluent in English, Russian and Lithuanian.