Speakers
Ivailo Gospodinov
Managing Director, Raiffeisen Investment Bulgaria
Ivailo joined Raiffeisen Investment in August 2006 as Managing Director of the Bulgarian office. Prior to that he has been a Director at Forem Consulting (an M&A Boutique), where he was actively involved in numerous sell and buy side mandates as well as privatisation deals. Ivailo has nine years work experience as an audit manager at first Andersen and subsequently Ernst & Young. His sector expertise is mainly in telecommunication, CATV, broadcasting and utilities sectors. He has been involved in the audits of many large companies including the biggest mobile operator in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Telecommunication Company, the National Electric Company and many others. Ivailo holds a bachelor degree in Business Administration from the Portsmouth University in the UK. He has been member of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants since 2005.
Heinz Sernetz
Member of the Executive Board,
Raiffeisen Investment AG
Heinz was one of the founding members of Raiffeisen Investment AG in 1993 and has been a member of the Executive Board since then. Heinz joined the Raiffeisen group in 1986 when he established RAIFIN – Raiffeisen Finanzberatungs GmbH – providing M&A and structured product advisory services to corporate customers. Since its establishment Heinz acted as Managing Director of this company which later was merged into Raiffeisen Investment AG.
From 1984 to 1986 he managed the International Customer Corporate Department at Erste Bank.
Heinz started his career in 1977 at Chase Manhattan Bank in London and Vienna. After that he spent a few years as Corporate Relationship Manager before he took over the Chase Eastern European trade finance department in Vienna.
Rossen Ivanov
Managing Partner, Entrea Capital
Rossen Ivanovworked at McKinsey & Co. in New Jersey/New York, where he focused on consumer goods, industrial and private equity clients. Prior to McKinsey, he worked as an investment associate at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, based in London, where he was responsible for structuring debt and equity investments across Eastern Europe. Rossen started his career at Procter & Gamble Balkan Markets in Bucharest, where he was responsible for evaluating new product launches across South-East Europe for P&G’s largest product category. He holds an MBA degree from the Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from the American University in Bulgaria.
Valeri Petrov
Partner, Bancroft
Valeri Petrov, Partner, joined Bancroft in summer 2008. Prior to joining he worked with the private equity firm Global Finance for the last four and a half years, running the company's activities in Bulgaria, where he led or co-led seven transactions. Prior to that he was running the biggest paints & coatings company in Bulgaria (backed by private equity funds) as CEO where he did a complete turnaround bringing the company up to high profit levels and increasing its market capitalization almost ten times for 3 years. He also worked for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies, and held various positions within the organisation in Central and Eastern Europe. He holds an MS in Engineering from the Technical University of Sofia. He has also attended Management Academy in London and ETP on Business Management in Delaware University, Sofia branch.
Timm Langenfeld
Project Manager, NetBid
Angermann & Lüders/Netbid AG: Project Manager, International Project Sales
Voith Paper Fiber Systems: General Manager - Sales, Peoples Republic of China
Primary academic studies: Darmstadt University of Technology, Dipl. Ing. Chemical Engineering
Secondary academic studies: London School of Economics BSc. Banking and Finance
International experience: Canada, China, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Sweden
Languages: German (mother tongue), English (fluent), French (basics)
Viktor Manev
Managing Partner, MMC
Mr. Viktor Manev, Managing Partner, Consulting Team, is a Certified Management Consultant and the Chairman of the Ethics Commission with BAMCO (the national association of management consultants). Mr. Manev started his career in the biggest insurance company on the Bulgarian market, DZI (1993) and was responsible for the marketing strategy of the life insurance division (1994) and the formation of a private pension fund (1995). Prior to founding MM Consult Mr. Manev served as a chief financier of the Center for Mass Privatization (CMP) at the Council of Ministers (1996-98) where he was responsible for the entire institutional financing of the privatization of more than 1,000 Bulgarian enterprises. Since 1994, Mr. Manev actively participated in FDI inflow and M&A deals estimated at USD 130 mln, while through his work as a state official 18 percent of the state-owned assets were turned into private hands. Mr. Manev has BS in Finance from WVWC, WV and specialization in comparative studies in the University of Oxford.
Christo Daskalov
Controlling Director, Mobiltel
Christo Daskalov is a Controlling Director in Mobiltel (with Mtel since 2001) and Supervisory Board member of GPS AD (subsidiary of Mobiltel). Previously he occupied the positions of Project manager at Raiffeisen Investment AG, Vienna, Austria and Project Manager at Raiffeisen Investment (Bulgaria) EOOD. In Raiffeisen Investment AG Christo was responsible for the evaluation of investment projects and elaboration of business plans and projections. He also participated in M&A projects. In Raiffeisen Investment (Bulgaria) he was invloved in the management of different M&A projects. During 1999-2001 Christo was a Co-Project Manager of the Investment Advisory Services for the Bulgarian Post-Privatisation Fund (EBRD financed project). He holds a Master degree in International Business Relations from the University of National and World Economy, Sofia.