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Andrew Oldland QC

Head of the Financial Services team and Head of the Regulatory team
Michelmores LLP

Andrew Oldland QC is Head of the Financial Services team and Head of the Regulatory team.

Andrew is a barrister and has extensive experience in financial regulation and financial crime, including anti-corruption, anti-money laundering and offences under the Companies Acts. Andrew was previously standing counsel to HM Revenue and Customs and a member of the 'A' list of counsel for the Serious Fraud Office. He is recognised as a specialist in restraint and confiscation proceedings.

Andrew is frequently quoted in the national and international press on investigations such as LIBOR, Forex and high profile corruption investigations.

Andrew is also one of the leading lawyers in the country on maritime and fisheries regulation. His maritime practice includes complex marine licensing and planning issues, port and harbour governance, collisions at sea, onboard accidents and pollution.

Having been a member of the Attorney-General's 'A' list of counsel, consequently Andrew has a wide range of regulatory expertise including health & safety, transport, environmental protection, data protection, food labelling and product recall. He regularly acts for large corporate clients and their insurers on the full range of regulatory and criminal matters.

Andrew is a highly experienced advocate and is able to provide continuity of representation from initial advice through to the conclusion of any court or tribunal proceedings.

Andrew has been a Recorder of the Crown Court (part-time judge) since 2004, and is one of the brightest lawyers that you will encounter.

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Alderman Alan Yarrow

The Rt Hon The Lord Mayor
City of London

Alderman Alan Yarrow took office as the 687th Lord Mayor of the City of London on Friday 7th November. He was born in Malaysia and educated at Harrow before joining Grieveson Grant, stockbrokers in 1972 and being elected a member of the Stock Exchange in 1978.

He studied International Corporate Finance at Manchester Business School 1981 and on his return was made a partner of his firm the same year. Following the merger of Grieveson Grant and Kleinwort Benson, Alan became Head of UK Institutional Sales in 1989, Head of Global Distribution in 1992, and Managing Director of Kleinwort Benson Securities in 1994. He was appointed to the Kleinwort Benson Group Board in 1995.

Alan left Dresdner Kleinwort in December 2009, after 37 years with the group, latterly as Group Vice Chairman and Chairman of the UK Bank. On Kleinwort Benson’s merger with RHJI, Alan was appointed Chairman of the Kleinwort Benson Holdings Board until recently stepping down to become Senior Advisor to the Group.

Alderman Yarrow is currently Chairman of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment and is also a Non-executive Director of Turquoise Global Holdings Limited (subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange) and Fixnetix Limited (low latency data communications). He is also a Trustee of the Police Foundation.

He has served as Chairman of the London Investment Banking Association, a member of the Take-over Panel, Vice-Chairman of the Financial Services Authority Practitioner Panel, and Vice President of the British Bankers’ Association.

Law Society


Bakhtiyar Azizov

Head of Executive Administration of the State Committee for Securities of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Was born in 1959 in Baku. Was admitted to the Moscow Management Institution, specialized on economic-cybernetic. Started his career as an engineer at the Cybernetic Institution of the National Academy of Sciences in 1981. Worked as an engineer and the head of section at Scientific Production Union until 1987. Until 1992 worked as the head of department and deputy head of executive committee at the Executive Committee one of the district of Baku city. Until 1995 worked as the head of the currency control department at the Customs Committee, until 2001 served as the head of the branch of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, until 2004 served as a senior expert at the department of securities turnover regulation under the State Securities Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Was appointed vice-president of the National Depository Centre of the State Securities Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan in March 2004.

From 2005 served as the chairman of the Management Board of the National Depository Centre and from April 2011 elected as the chairman of the Supervisory Board of the National Depository Centre of the State Securities Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Was appointed head of the administration of the State Securities Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan in July 2011.

BRITAIN AZERBAIJAN BUSINESS COUNCIL


PASHA Bank


Ayuna Nechaeva

Senior Manager – Emerging Markets, Equity Primary Markets
London Stock Exchange

Ayuna Nechaeva is responsible for London Stock Exchange’s business development activities in CIS and Asia-Pacific. Ayuna advises corporates in these regions on the process of listing on the London Stock Exchange, equity capital raising, IPO preparation and corporate governance. Ayuna also manages and develops the 100+ network of existing listed clients.

Prior to joining LSEG, Ayuna worked at BBC Monitoring in Moscow and the UK.

Ayuna Nechaeva holds a Master’s in International Business from Grenoble Graduate School of Business as well as MA in Linguistics & Intercultural Communications from the Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Charlie Berman

Chairman of Debt Capital Markets - Europe, Middle East & Africa
Barclays
Charlie Berman is Chairman of Debt Capital Markets for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Barclays and based in London. He is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction and organisation of debt capital markets and related derivative, advisory and liability management activities in addition to managing senior relationships particularly with the Public Sector clients.
Prior to joining Barclays in September 2011, Mr. Berman spent 18 years at Salomon Brothers /Citigroup in a variety of positions including Co Head of Credit Markets and Co-Head of Fixed Income Capital Markets and was a member of the Global Fixed Income operating committee .
Mr. Berman graduated in Law from Manchester University in 1980 and then trained as a commercial banker with Bank of America. He gained exposure to the Eurobond and syndicated loan markets before joining Citicorp to focus on the nascent markets for ECP, MTNs and note issuance facilities. He subsequently joined Merrill Lynch to concentrate on Financial Institutions and the development of regulatory capital securities such as Variable Rate Notes and Tier 1 Preferred Stock.
In 1990 he joined Salomon Brothers where the scope of his mandate broadened to include public sector borrowers and corporations. During this period he was involved with the development of the Global Bond mechanism and its application beyond AAA issuers, before widening his focus to include issuers from emerging nations in EMEA and Asia. Mr Berman has been closely involved with Sovereign, Supranational and Agency borrowers for more than 20 years and has executed numerous benchmarks and other capital raisings for debut and frequent issuers across the globe.
Mr. Berman was honoured to receive the inaugural Euromoney/PWC Capital Markets Achievement Award in 2000 and in Euroweek’s 20th anniversary edition in 2007, he was voted by borrowers as the ‘Most Impressive Originator’ of the preceding 20 years. He has served as an executive committee member of International Primary Market Association and Vice President of the Euro Debt Market Association.

TheCityUK


Dimitri Gvindadze

Lead Economist
EBRD

After ten years in Georgia’s Foreign Service, in 2005-2012 Dimitri Gvindadze served as Deputy Minister of Finance of Georgia for International Affairs and as Minister of Finance of Georgia. He contributed to the return of Georgia’s economy to the growth path after the global economic crisis of 2008-2009 and helped to secure upgrades of the sovereign credit ratings.

Dimitri then worked as First Deputy CEO at the Partnership Fund (sovereign private equity fund of Georgia) and as Director of the National Investment Agency, coordinating elaboration of an outside-in perspective on Georgia’s investment potential, including validation of flagship sectors and projects for the FDI push strategy. After exiting the public sector, Dimitri worked as Global Head of Research in the Tbilisi-based Liberty Securities and pursued career in international consultancy. Since 2014, Dimitri works as Lead Economist in the EBRD.

Dimitri holds MPA/ID degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and MS degree in engineering from the Georgian Technical University. He studied financial programming and policies, international relations and development in the United States, the Netherlands and France. At various times, he worked as invited lecturer in macroeconomic reasoning and practice.

Taleh Kazimov

Member of the Executive Board
PASHA Bank
Born on 11 September, 1983
Higher education in the Azerbaijan Technical University, 2000-2004, "Department of automatic control and computer engineering". In 2006 received MBA degree (Azerbaijan State Oil Academy). T. Kazimov began professional activity in 2001. During the period of 02.2004 - 09.2006 he occupied various positions in CJSC "Bank Standard" - leading specialist of Treasury department, Head of division of management accounting and budget planning, Deputy Director of corporate credits division. From 09.2006 to 01.2007 he worked as auditor in Ernst & Young Company. During the period of 01.2007 - 07.2007 T. Kazimov was General Director of IAA "FinEko".
On 07.2007 Taleh Kazimov began working in PASHA Bank as Manager of Risk Management Department, and since 08.2009 he is Director of the Bank Treasury. Taleh Kazimov is member of the Board of Directors since 07.12.2011. Presently overseas the operations/activity of following functions within the Bank: corporate, business banking and investment block, trade finance, relations with financial institutions and loan management.

Sergey Neklyudov

CIS Clients & Markets Leader
Deloitte

Sergei is an audit partner at Deloitte CIS and leads our Financial Services Industry group. Before joining Deloitte, Sergei gained fourteen years experience working for a major multinational professional services firm where he led IFRS and RAS/US GAAP audits for financial institutions in Russia.

Sergei has valuable knowledge of the banking, brokerage and leasing sectors in Russia and Europe, which has been developed through working in London and Cyprus as well as in Russia. He has experience in due diligence, development, and implementation of accounting and financial reporting systems.

Vugar Akhundov

Managing Director
Fireland Capital
Vugar Akhundov is a Managing Director at a London-based corporate finance advisory Fireland Capital. Mr Akhundov is a corporate finance professional with many years of experience in M&A, Debt and Equity Capital Raising, Financial Management, Business Development and Financial Restructuring. Mr Akhundov has held senior finance positions with various firms in London. Mr Akhundov is a founder of Fireland Capital and has previously worked on transactions with leading financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, EBRD, Ashmore Investment Fund, First Reserve, Canaccord Financial etc. He has been based in London for last 14 years, but spends considerable time between London, New York and Moscow. Vugar holds MBA Global from London Business School and Columbia Business School. He also holds MA in Accounting and Finance from Kingston University in the UK.

Matthieu de Heering

Head of Russia, CIS & Mongolia EMEA
SWIFT

As Head of SWIFT’s Moscow office, Matthieu de Heering is responsible for SWIFT’s business in Russia CIS & Mongolia since February 2013. The SWIFT Moscow Office is responsible for all of SWIFT’s objectives in this region. de Heering is the Managing Director of OOO SWIFT LLC, a fully-owned subsidiary of SWIFT scrl, Brussels, the cooperative association of the financial industry, which provides secure and standardised services in the area of data transmission, financial solutions and interface software.

From the 2006 until 2012, de Heering held numerous responsibilities in SWIFT Standards, from business analyst for emerging markets, to Project Manager for Target2-Securities, representing SWIFT on ECB and 4CB working groups from 2010 to 2012. de Heering joined SWIFT from the Bank of New York’s Global Custody hub in November 2006 where he was Head of Management Information and Statistics.

de Heering graduated cum laude with a Master’s Degree in business and technology from the Institut Catholique des Hautes Etudes Commerciales in Brussels, and is fluent in English, French, Russian, Italian, Spanish and Dutch. He is married and the father of two sons.

Rt. Hon. Professor Charles Hendry

Chairman
EURASIA PARTNERS

Charles Hendry was Conservative Member of Parliament for Wealden from 2001-2015 and was Minister of State for Energy from May 2010 until September 2012. He was previously the Conservative Party’s spokesman on energy issues, holding the portfolio longer than any previous Minister.

The Prime Minister thereafter appointed him as his Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, holding the post until the 2015 General Election when he left Parliament. He is now Chairman of Eurasia Partners.

Since leaving Ministerial office, he has been appointed as a Visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh (in both the Business School and the Academy of Government). Charles is President of the British Institute of Energy Economics; and President of the Advisory Board of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce and of the British Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan.

He is Chairman of the Forewind Consortium (Statoil, Statkraft, SSE and RWE), which is currently seeking consent to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm in the North Sea. He is an adviser to Atlantic Superconnection, which is looking to construct a transmission cable to bring low-carbon electricity from Iceland to the UK; to Vitol, one of the world’s largest energy trading companies; and to AECOM.

He has also held the business, higher education and youth portfolios for the Conservative Party; as well as the role of Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party.

Prior to entering Parliament, Charles had his own communications consultancy, supporting chairmen and chief executives in their corporate networking. He was Chief of Staff to the Foreign Secretary, William Hague MP, when he became Leader of the Conservative Party.

Lawrence Oliver

Director - Deputy Chief Executive Officer
DDCAP

Lawrence Oliver is a Director and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of DDCAP and its subsidiaries DD&Co Limited and DDGI Limited.

Lawrence has principal responsibility for the company’s Trading and Trade Support desks and has extensive experience of arranging asset-based transactions that conform to Sharia’a stipulation.

He focuses specifically on Sharia’a compliant structured finance and asset origination and has broad knowledge of the physical commodity sector which has enabled him to
re-establish the traditional merchant trading capabilities of DD&Co Limited for the benefit of institutional clients operating within the Islamic Financial sector. More recently, Lawrence has worked on various innovative Islamic capital market transactions at the request of financial sector and government department / agency clients located in CIS and Central Asia, Middle East and South East Asia.

Lawrence has worked in the Islamic Finance market for more than twenty years. He joined DDCAP in April 1998. Previously he was an Assistant Manager at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and a member of the team responsible for the Islamic Finance and Investment activity.

Lawrence is a regular speaker at many of the annual Islamic conferences held in the GCC, South East Asia and Europe.

Francis Fitzherbert-Brockholes

Partner, London
White & Case
Francis Fitzherbert-Brockholes, who has qualified both as an English barrister and as a member of the New York Bar, represents banks and other private and public entities and sovereign governments in various financial transactions, with particular emphasis on their activities in the international capital markets.
Francis has also had considerable experience in acquisitions of public and private companies, in the establishment and organisation of financial institutions and investment funds, in the privatisation of state-owned enterprises and in the organisation of other multi-jurisdictional transactions.
He has advised on many equity and debt offerings, securitisations and ECP and EMTN programmes. These include both registered and unregistered debt and equity offerings in the United States, as well as many offerings outside the United States, including some of the first international offerings by issuers from Central and Eastern Europe and Asia.
Francis works for sovereign governments in such areas as international financing, external debt rescheduling and restructuring and privatisation.
One highlight of his work has been leading the team in drafting Kazakhstan's banking restructuring law, which enabled BTA and Alliance Banks to restructure in excess of US$20 billion of liabilities and which has been acknowledged as the first "bail-in" restructuring of a financial institution. These restructurings were recognised and enforced by the courts in both New York and London. This work won the 'Legal Innovation in Financial Services' award in the 2009 Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards. Francis has also recently been recognised as a "Super Lawyer" by Thomson Reuters in their London 2013 directory.
Francis has lectured extensively on various aspects of his practice at seminars and conferences. He has been a partner in the Firm since 1985, having joined the Firm as an associate in 1978. Prior to that, he practised at the English Bar and in New York.
Francis is also a trustee of a number of charities (including The Deutsche Bank Microcredit Development Fund, The Oratory School Association, Lancaster University and The Brampton Trust) and is President of The Garstang & District Agricultural & Horticultural Society.

Sebastian Lawson

Partner
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Sebastian Lawson has one of the more unusual briefs within Freshfields. He is based in Moscow and deals exclusively with central and eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, a total of more than 30 territories.

Although many of the legal skills and disciplines that he and his corporate colleagues in the rest of Europe possess can apply to most transactions, through Sebastian the firm can offer a much more nuanced approach to business.
Sebastian knows the area extremely well in terms of both legal and cultural issues, and it is his familiarity with the latter that helps with clients and their deals. These often run into multi-billions of dollars in value.

His negotiating style is deliberately open. That stance puts clients at ease with the process, regardless of where they operate and the specific jurisdiction which applies to them. By doing so, he wins their trust and a true partnership between client and adviser develops.

His experience includes advising clients on the aspects of a wide range of major cross-border corporate transactions and some of CEE/CIS leading equity offerings and privatisations.

Sebastian has shared this experience both in person at seminars and through a number of publications.
________________________________________

“Sebastian Lawson is an expert in CEE and CIS-wide transactions with a focus on corporate transactions, equity offerings and privatisation.”
Chambers and Partners 2014

“Sebastian Lawson handles big ticket deals.”
Chambers & Partners 2011

“Now based in Moscow, English-qualified Sebastian Lawson is a highly recognised expert in the CIS and CEE regions.”
Chambers Global 2015
________________________________________

Recent deals/Highlights
PPF Arena 2 B.V., a subsidiary of PPF Group N.V., on its acquisition of a controlling stake in, Telefónica Czech Republic, a.s., the largest Czech telecoms group from Telefónica S.A., for a total cash consideration of approximately EUR 2.467bn and KCell, the largest mobile operator in Kazakhstan by market share on their inaugural stock market listing on the London Stock Exchange.
The IPO of the Ukrainian egg producer Avangardco on the London Stock Exchange.
Representing CVC on the $4.4bn acquisition of ABI’s brewing operations in CEE.
Advising Rosneft on its proposed joint venture with BP.

Languages
English, French, Romanian, Russian

Sergei Ostrovsky

Partner
Ashurst LLP

Sergei Ostrovsky is a partner at Ashurst LLP in London where he heads the firm's Russia and CIS practice. Ashurst is a leading international law firm based in the City of London, with a rich history spanning almost 200 years, and almost 1700 lawyers in 16 countries.

Trained as a banking and corporate lawyer in the City in the 1990s, Sergei is a qualified solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. He spends significant periods of time in the CIS region. Sergei has worked on a number of corporate transactions involving equity and debt investments, fundraisings, corporate acquisitions and disposals. He specialises in equity capital markets, private placements, private M&A and joint ventures.

Dr Farhad Mirzayev

Partner
BM Morrison Partners

Dr Farhad Mirzayev has been with BM for more than 14 years and is considered one of the most active and talented experts in the domestic market. He has an impeccable academic background and has represented major domestic and international clients in various complex projects in Azerbaijan as well as in a number of cross-border transactions. His main areas of expertise are oil & gas, project finance, banking, dispute settlement and Public International Law.
Prior joining BM Farhad worked as legal expert for various commercial entities, law firms, NGOs and public companies. He has employment and training experience abroad, including training at Paris office of one of the top international law firms.
Farhad advises major foreign banks on their secured and unsecured financings to local banks and industry monopolies. He led Azerbaijani legal team advising foreign lenders and local banks on Eurobonds’ issue deals.
He is known as a reliable and most dedicated practitioner for his creative and innovative solutions in resolving complex legal matters. He has remarkable insight into the Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) and other energy projects launched in Azerbaijan representing major transnational companies including Exxon, Shell, Total, Itochu, Lukoil and others. Farhad has also unrivalled experience in representing various foreign investors in Azerbaijan and major local clients in cross-border transactions.
Farhad has an extensive experience in representing various international organisations, financial institutions and banks, including the World Bank, EBRD, the Asian Development Bank, US ExIm Bank and others on various major projects in Azerbaijan.
Farhad is listed among top lawyers in Azerbaijan by leading international legal directories such as Chambers Global, Legal 500 and IFLR 1000. Farhad was granted a number of awards, including the British Chevening Scholarship for the full scholarship for his studies in the UK in 2004. Farhad led the team of Baku State University which received three awards at the P. Jessup International Law Moot Competition in 2001 in Washington DC. He has an impressible number of publications, including a spesialised book on international dispute settlement.

Education
1996- 2002 - LL.B and LL.M in International Law (magna cum laude), Baku State University (Azerbaijan)
2005 – LLM. in International Law, University of Nottingham (with merit), (UK)
2005 – Diploma in Comparative Constitutional Law (cum laude), University of Fribourg (Fribourg, Switzerland)
2008 – PhD in Law, Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan / Baku State University (Azerbaijan)
2007-2013 – PhD in Law, University of Leicester (UK)

Languages
Azerbaijani, English, French Russian, Turkish

Affiliation
2000 – Admitted to Practice in the Republic of Azerbaijan

Ismail Askerov

Partner
MGB Law Offices

Ismail Askerov is a managing partner of MGB Law Offices (previously known as McGrigors). The firm was established by him and Ledingham Chalmers in Azerbaijan in 1995. Over the last 20 years Ismail has been regularly advising oil and gas corporations, export credit agencies and international financial institutions on corporate, investment, project finance, and compliance issues. His recent experience extends on advising consortium of international and investment banks and credit agency in downstream financing in connection with a multi-million facility for the development, construction of a major refinery in Turkey (“Project Star”) and the acquisition of the leading local insurance company in Baku.

MGB is the only UK law practice registered in Azerbaijan. The independent status of MGB has been critical in establishing a positive basis for successful participation in many major projects including comprehensive legal support on syndicated finance of the foreign lenders on the BTC project and acquisition finance in the aviation sector.

Ismail is highly recommended as the first tier lawyer in a number of legal directories published outside Azerbaijan for his work, The recommendations include http://www.legal500; http://www.chambersandpartners.com; http://www.iflr1000.com.

Ismail Askerov is a member of the International Bar Association and admitted to the Collegium of Advocates of Azerbaijan Republic.