Real Assets Real Assets

Rupert is the Managing Director of Gresham House Asset Management Ltd and has 30 years’ experience in asset management and wealth management, focused on product innovation, investment management, business development, banking and wealth structuring. Rupert has a strong track record of delivering significant shareholder value. He was previously CEO and CIO of Schroders (UK) Private Bank and head of private clients at Rothschild Asset Management Limited.

Olly joined Gresham House in February 2019 as Managing Director of Forestry. Olly is responsible for all facets of the Gresham House forestry business and additionally oversees the deployment and asset management of the wider real asset investment portfolio, including all solar PV and wind assets.

Olly has over 20 years’ experience in the finance sector beginning his career with Baring Brothers and then ING Barings, more recently he was a Partner and Head of Infrastructure at Oxford Capital. Olly is a specialist real asset investment manager with a background in developing, structuring and managing a wide array of financial and infrastructure asset backed portfolios. He has a BA and MA from Oxford University and also holds the Investment Management Certificate from the CFA Society in the UK.

Ben is the Managing Director of the Gresham House New Energy division and Lead Manager for the British Strategic Investment Fund (BSIF) strategy. He started his fund management career at Lazard Asset Management, before founding Hazel Capital (now Gresham House New Energy) in April 2007, subsequently serving as Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer.

With over 20 years of investment experience, Ben’s expertise spans the investment spectrum, across infrastructure, public equities and venture capital. He is responsible for the origination and execution of investment opportunities at Gresham House, alongside ongoing portfolio management. Ben currently serves as a director of over 40 companies and until recently was the non-executive chairman of Oxis Energy, a UK-advanced battery power company. He holds a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London.

Adam joined Gresham House in April 2019 as part of the Forestry asset management team. He assists with all aspects of operational management across several forest portfolios and has varied experience of large scale forest management and of timber harvesting and marketing.

After achieving a first class BA (Hons) in History from the University of Nottingham, Adam started his career with the Forestry Commission at Grizedale Forest, Cumbria, where he first developed an interest in forest management. He went on to gain an MSc in Forestry from the University of Aberdeen and has since worked for seven years in commercial forestry, mainly on the west coast of Scotland.

Alf has 15+ years’ experience advising directors, shareholders and stakeholders on corporate finance, restructuring and corporate turnaround matters. Previously with Grant Thornton UK LLP, Alf also has experience in international industry and spent time in the global restructuring team of a high street bank. At Grant Thornton, Alf worked on advising and financing a number of PPP projects including the spinout and PPP of a maggot therapy project out of a Welsh NHS Trust.

Alf has been involved in the construction, financing and operational management of over 100MW of onshore wind and solar assets on behalf of investors. He is a Fellow Chartered Accountant and holds the Advanced Diploma in Corporate Finance qualification (CF) as well as a BSc (Hons) in Maths & Language Studies from UMIST.

Anthony’s background is in investment banking, having previously worked for international firms in London, New York and South America, including Macquarie and Merrill Lynch. At Gresham House, he is responsible for business development, marketing and sales for our forestry and new energy assets, also managing one of the funds.

Anthony has a BA (Hons) in History from Newcastle University and is an Investment Management Certificate holder. He is also a registered adviser with the Financial Conduct Authority.

Bozkurt joined Hazel Capital (now Gresham House New Energy) in 2008 as a Partner and Portfolio Manager. He co-manages the Gresham House New Energy VCTs and sources and executes new opportunities, covering transaction negotiation, due diligence and contract negotiation. He dedicated the early part of his career to funding and advising companies in the telecommunications and technology industries, whilst in roles at Nomura, Salomon Brothers, Bowman Capital and Deloitte & Touche. In 2002 he co-founded and built New Energy Finance (NEF), which became the leading provider of data, research and analysis to investors in the global cleantech industry. NEF was acquired by Bloomberg in December 2009.

He has 25 years’ principal investment, advisory and business-building experience in the clean energy, telecommunications and technology industries, and holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College London.

Carole is responsible for the asset management of Gresham House’s renewable portfolio and also acts as fund manager for one of the wind funds. Carole joined Gresham House as part of the FIM Services Ltd integrations, and has been involved in the origination, financing, construction and management of all of the previously FIM-branded renewable assets.

Prior to joining FIM, Carole worked across a number of sectors including technology, software and travel as a Finance and Operations Director following qualification as a Chartered Management Accountant.

Ed qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen in 1998. He has been working with growth companies since 2000, as corporate finance adviser, COO / CFO, and investor. His focus on social impact and sustainable investing started in 2008 at Bridges Ventures and until 2018 he was head of the Energy and Infrastructure team at Downing LLP, with over £400m of assets under management.

Ed has experience in originating, negotiating and managing venture, growth and infrastructure transactions and actively managing a portfolio of investments through to profitable exit. He has led investments to build, own and operate renewable energy generating assets (AD, hydro, solar and wind) as well as other energy and infrastructure assets (including waste process and waste to energy, novel wood pellet production plants, behind the meter and grid connected batteries and reserve power plants). He holds an MA in Economics from Cambridge.

Ed works on the origination, appraisal, execution and management of renewable energy investments. Prior to joining Gresham House, Ed worked with KPMG, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, before moving into commercial finance with Siemens L&A and then corporate finance with MacIntyre Hudson LLP, where he specialised in business start-ups and mid-market transactions.

Ed holds both a first class BSc in Economics from the University of Manchester and the Investment Management Certificate, and is a registered adviser with the Financial Conduct Authority.

Ed is fund manager of Gresham House’s two largest forestry funds, with a combined value of over £360m. His role also involves the valuation and acquisition of new investment opportunities and overseeing deal flow. Ed has over 10 years’ experience in investment management and valuation.

Prior to joining FIM in 2012, Ed worked for Cluttons LLP where he dealt with commercial property portfolios for institutional and high net worth clients. Ed is a graduate of the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, and is currently enrolled in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) programme. He is a Chartered Surveyor and RICS Registered Valuer. Ed holds the Investment Management Certificate and is a registered advisor with the Financial Conduct Authority.

Gareth was a Partner at Hazel Capital (now Gresham House New Energy) and has over 18 years’ experience executing structured transactions across a variety of sectors. He is primarily responsible for transacting investments, disposals as well as debt financings. Before Hazel Capital, Gareth worked at Barclays Natural Resource Investments, a captive private equity fund investing in the natural resource and renewable energy sectors.

Prior to this, he worked in the Structured Capital Markets divisions of Barclays Capital and Deutsche Bank, handling the acquisition and disposal of various asset-based companies. He started his career in infrastructure project finance at Greenwich NatWest, advising on and financing a number of PFI / PPP projects including the A13 DBFO, Dutch high speed rail link (HSL Zuid) and London Underground.

Gareth holds an MBA from Imperial College Business School, and both an MSc in Engineering Project Management and a BEng in Civil Engineering from the University of Manchester.

Graham is an experienced forestry professional, responsible for all operational aspects of the Gresham House forestry funds. After a short period of practical experience in the UK, Sweden and New Zealand, he joined UA Forestry Ltd (a division of United Auctions Group) as a forest manager, progressing to become their managing director in 1997.

In 2001, he left UA to found his own forestry management company, Aspen Forestry Ltd, which specialised in providing forest management services across Scotland. Following the successful sale of Aspen, Graham joined Gresham House in 2007. His specialism is in developing, negotiating and managing non-forestry ‘higher and better use’ investments on behalf of client funds, particularly renewable energy developments, telecom rentals, power line access and compensation and residential developments.

Hayden is an Asset Manager within the Forestry team. After graduating with a BSc in Forestry from Bangor University in 2014, he joined Gresham House as part of the timber harvesting team, where he specialised in operational control, a key contributor to fund performance.

His remit has since expanded to include wider asset management and acquisition work. Hayden achieved Chartered Forester status in December 2017.

Henrietta is a Chartered Surveyor responsible for the asset management of Gresham House’s forestry portfolio with over 12 years’ experience in property management. Her role involves managing existing assets on behalf of clients. Prior to joining Gresham House, Henrietta managed rural estates and property in the UK along with a variety of professional work. Henrietta is a Member of RICS and a retired Fellow of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (FAAV), and holds a BSc (Hons) in Land Management from the University of Reading.

Izzy covers acquisitions across a number of divisions. Prior to joining Gresham House, Izzy worked for over seven years in consulting and hedge funds, forming and executing strategy and managing high level projects. He is also the youngest visiting professor at the prestigious IEB University in Madrid, teaching the CFA curriculum.

Izzy is a CFA charterholder and has an MSc in Finance from the University of Exeter. He speaks Spanish and Dutch fluently and is a registered adviser with the Financial Conduct Authority.

James is an Investment Analyst with over 6 years’ experience across Forestry and Renewables, and providing asset management for the FIM Forest Fund I LP. James is a Level II candidate in the CFA programme and holds the Investment Management Certificate and a BA in Business Administration.

Previously, James worked for J.P Morgan in equities and fixed income operations before moving into commodity derivatives at RWE. Prior to joining FIM and Gresham House, he was on the dealing desk of Computershare Investor Services, trading global equities for corporate share and compensation schemes.

James joined Gresham House in November 2018 having previously been at Livingbridge. Prior to that he worked in TMT audit at EY for 3 years where he qualified as a chartered accountant. James studied at Durham University where he obtained a first class masters degree in mathematics.

Based out of Gresham House’s Dumfries office, Jason is responsible for the effective management of the forestry portfolio on behalf of clients together with continued expansion. Jason is a Chartered Surveyor and RICS Registered Valuer, Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Foresters, MBA graduate, IMD Alumni and Aberdeen University forestry graduate with key experiences including forestry investment appraisal and due diligence. Jason has a long background in forestry, timber processing and woodland creation and specialises in forestry investment.

Joe is an Investment Manager in the New Energy team, focused primarily on sourcing and executing new investments for the British Strategic Investment Fund. Prior to joining Gresham House, Joe worked for Lloyds Banking Group in their structured finance team, supporting primarily UK companies with the structuring and execution of secured capital markets transactions. At Lloyds, Joe was involved in a number of whole business and asset backed securitisations and bond financings including advising on a funding package for a hospital and a regulated water utility.

Whilst at Lloyds, he also gained experience in restructuring and private equity. Joe holds a BA (Hons) and MA from Durham University and is a CFA charter holder.

John joined Gresham House New Energy (formerly Hazel Capital) in 2016 as Technical Director. He has over 15 years’ energy industry experience across operations, management and optimisation of energy generation assets.

He is responsible for the optimisation of existing solar and wind assets, technical development and optimisation of new energy storage opportunities. Prior to Hazel Capital, John worked in the UK solar sector, initiating O&M and asset management for a number of ground-mounted solar PV asset portfolios. This was on behalf of private equity, yieldco and EPC organisations, with total generation capacity over 600 MW. Prior to this, at RWE/Npower, he managed the operational control, trading and grid-interface of a UK wind portfolio with over 1 GW generation capacity.

Before moving to London in 2011, John worked with the Irish utility ESB, in management roles in a 400 MW CCGT plant, and in trading/commercial optimisation of CCGT assets in the UK and Irish markets. He started his Career in Dublin with Fingleton White consulting engineers. John holds a BE in Mechanical Engineering from University College Dublin, an MSc in Management from Dublin City University and an MBA from the Open University.

Josh joined Gresham House in 2019. He previously worked at Hazelwoods, a regional firm of accountants as a Corporate Finance Executive. He obtained a BA (Hons) in Accounting and Business from the University of Reading in 2017, during which he interned at PwC.

Matthew is focused on forestry investments, with a single client portfolio of circa 14,000 ha of commercial forestry. Prior to Gresham House, he worked as a forest manager for 12 years, based in Scotland, responsible for extensive areas in South Wales, the north of England, and Scotland. Duties included client liaison, budgets, timber sales, woodland purchases, restocking, road building and grant applications.

His previous experience included the responsibility for FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) audits on all the forest areas previously managed. Matthew is a qualified chartered forester and graduated holds an honours degree in Forestry from the University of Central Lancashire, following practical experience in the UK and in Australia.

Matt is a chartered surveyor with over 13 years’ experience in investment management. He is responsible for the asset management of FIM’s forestry portfolio and for family office and high net worth individuals’ forestry and renewable portfolios worth over £360m. Matt is also responsible for the valuation and acquisition of investment opportunities.

Prior to Gresham House and FIM, Matt worked for Smiths Gore as a rural estate manager, advising a number of private clients on the management of their diverse property portfolios. Before this, he worked for Jones Lang LaSalle in their financial services team advising on the formation of joint venture property development companies. Matt holds the Certificate in Investments and is a registered adviser with the Financial Conduct Authority.

Richard is a Chartered Surveyor whose experience covers all property issues. His expertise includes: complex documentation and due diligence matters, developing and implementing investment schemes – particularly those based on tax-efficient structures – and managing a wide range of investor contacts established through FIM’s investment business. Richard is a registered adviser with the Financial Conduct Authority.

Rob started out working in London for five years with CNBC Europe. Working within the financial sector led to an interest in investment analysis and financial modelling. Graduating with a distinction from his Applied Carbon Management MSc at Glasgow University, Rob set up a consultancy focusing on carbon management in forestry and the potential to realise value within this emerging sector. This led to working for Gresham House, working alongside Digby Guy on acquisitions and business development.

Simon is a Chartered Forester with over ten years of private and public sector experience. He has a BSc in Forestry from Bangor University, graduating in 2008. He specialises in woodland creation and general forest management.

Stephen specialises in all aspects of marketing, harvesting, and extraction of client timber. A professional forester, working on clients’ behalf with sawmills and other end-users as well as responsibility for crop mensuration and appraisal, prior to harvesting decision.

After gaining experience in timber harvesting as a self-employed chainsaw operator he joined Smiths Gore as an assistant forest manager, where he developed his forestry management skills, qualified as a professional tree inspector and began working towards Chartered Forester status, which was successfully achieved in 2010.

Stevie joined Gresham House in January 2018 and works on both public and private transactions across the full range of funds, spending the majority of time working on the British Strategic Investment Fund.

Prior to Gresham House, Stevie worked for Lloyds Banking Group in their Leveraged Finance Team, following the completion of the graduate scheme where she gained exposure to a wide range of Capital Market products. Stevie holds a BA (Hons) in Economics from Durham University and has passed CFA Level II.

Based in our Oxford office, Suzy works in the asset management team for our renewables portfolio. Suzy has been involved in the construction, financing and operational management of over 100 MW of onshore wind and solar assets on behalf of investors.

Previously, Suzy worked as a Senior Investment Analyst for Sun Life Financial of Canada and Lincoln Financial Group. Suzy is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and has a first class BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Bath.

Prior to joining Gresham House, Tom worked for Polar Capital for 5 years on both the investment and operational side, during which time he completed the IMC. Following a sustainability direction, he designed and built a rural indoor farm, selling the produce to local restaurants and farmers markets. He graduated in 2010 from the University of Edinburgh with a BSc (Hons) in Scientific Geography.

Fund Manager; responsible for management of in-forest operations and fund reporting. Post qualification, he worked as a forest manager on the full spectrum of forest activities, with a particular emphasis on adding value through bare land planting. In 2004, he moved to the Forestry Commission where he held various responsibilities including regulatory compliance role over the industry’s private sector. Latterly he was project manager of an IT project, and represented the Forestry Commission on the SEARS (Scotland’s Environmental & Rural Services) programme of organisational change. In 2012 he joined Gresham House Forestry and is one of the teams qualified chartered foresters.

Vimal is a Senior Adviser to Gresham House’s infrastructure business including the British Strategic Investment Fund strategy. Vimal has over 20 years of transaction and investment experience including more than 15 years in infrastructure across greenfield and brownfield investments in core and core plus assets. Previously, Vimal was the CEO and Head of Europe for IL & FS, one of India’s largest infrastructure investors, financiers and developers. He has also worked with EY in infrastructure M&A and corporate finance advisory.

Vimal was a founding member of Henderson Global Investor’s European infrastructure business where he worked on structuring, raising, investing and managing two infrastructure funds with more than £1bn in commitments. His infrastructure advisory and principal investing experience has spanned Europe, Asia and Australia with aggregate project value of more than £50bn. At Henderson, Vimal was involved in the acquisition and asset management of a number of PFI / PPP assets across health, education, leisure, waste, etc as well as the public to private of John Laing plc which had investments in c70 PFI / PPP assets globally. He also sat on John Laing’s Investment and Asset Management committees.

Vimal was appointed to the Dean’s List during his MBA at London Business School and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Wayne has 24 years of technical, commercial, stakeholder and general management experience in the energy sector. Before joining FIM Services Ltd, where he served as COO prior to their acquisition, Wayne was Onshore Wind Development and Construction Director for RWE Innogy.

Wayne is a Chartered Engineer and has a PhD in Engineering from the University of Sheffield. He has overseen the construction of 17 wind farms (~400MW) and the sale of 12 wind farms (~200MW) over the past 12 years. He has also represented the industry on aviation matters as a director and vice chair of the Aviation Investment Fund Company Ltd. Wayne is a registered adviser with the Financial Conduct Authority.