Restructure with Foresight: Middle East

Dipanjan joined in October 2018 as Head of Research. Currently, he manages equity portfolios and leads the MENA equity research team. Dipanjan has over 12 years’ experience as a portfolio manager and research analyst covering multiples sectors in the MENA region and has worked with a regional bank, an institutional asset manager and a large single family office.

Prior to joining Emirates NBD Asset Management, Dipanjan was a portfolio manager at AWJ Holding in Riyadh, covering Saudi Arabian Equities. He also held various Buy and Sell Side Roles at A/T Capital in Dubai and Bank Saudi Fransi in Riyadh.

Dipanjan is a CFA charter holder and has completed his Master’s degree in Business Administration.

John Komninakidis is the Vice President - Middle East, Turkey &  Greece at Datasite. John joined Datasite in 2017 and has contributed to the development of Datasite’s global expansion within the region, assisting investment banks, law firms, private equity and corporate clients’ data room projects across multiple sectors.

Before joining Datasite, he previously led due diligence processes in the privatizations and private sectors, including management of virtual data rooms from start to finish. 

John holds a B.Sc. in Economics from Piraeus University (GR) and dual M.Sc. in Information Management and Telecom Management from Syracuse University (NY,USA). He is a certified PMP® from the Project Management Institute. 

Pietro Castronovo is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal’s Strategy and Performance Improvement practice in Dubai. Mr. Castronovo heads Private Equity and Investment group practice in the Middle East. He has more than 18 years of experience with a focus on M&A, strategy, turnaround, restructuring and transformation programs across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

Mr. Castronovo has performed multiple pre-deal and post-deal assignments, including commercial, operational, vendor due diligence and post-merger integration.

Mr. Castronovo has an extensive experience both sell-side and buy-side. During this period of COVID, he successfully completed several end-to-end sell-side mandates in a distressed environment.

Previously, Mr. Castronovo served as the interim Chief Integration Officer during the merger of two leading Financial Institutions in the MENA region, where he led the team defining the strategy and operating model for the merged entity, the integration plan, target cost and revenue synergies, reporting to the CEO and Board of Directors. 

Mr. Castronovo was appointed CEO and General Manager for an Italian consumer credit company owned by a Private Equity Fund, where he designed and implemented a restructuring plan involving a merger of two operating companies, cost cutting and revenue enhancement initiatives.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Castronovo served as a professional at Bain & Company and Ernst & Young.

Mr. Castronovo holds a MSc cum laude in Business Administration and he is a Chartered Financial Accountant & Auditor.

Tolu  Alamutu joined Gramercy in June 2020. At Gramercy, she is responsible for research coverage and trade idea generation in the emerging markets financials sector. Based out of the London Office, Tolu’s experience and deep knowledge covering financials in CEEMEA is integral. She has applied this approach to credit research globally, including Asia and Latin America. Tolu participates in the weekly Corporate/Distressed Credit Meeting and is a member of the  Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Gramercy, Tolu was at Tellimer (formerly Exotix) as a Credit Research  Analyst from 2016. In that capacity, she led the coverage of CEEMEA financial institutions. Prior to Tellimer, Tolu was at Bank of America Merrill Lynch leading the CEEMEA Corporate Credit Research team where she covered 50 banks across the region and previously financial institutions in Western Europe.

Tolu holds a B.Sc. in Economics from London School of Economics, and another B.Sc.  in Biomedicine. She is a CFA Charterholder.