Hong Kong Summit Renewable Energy Forum 2019

Gwen is an independent advisor for PE/Infra funds looking to develop their sustainable projects in Asia. She was until recently supporting the development of a consulting company expert in energy transition and sustainable finance, in Europe/APAC with leading financial players. She has been managing projects for global banks and PE/Infra funds on topics like impact management, climate change and sustainable finance more broadly. Gwen has done most of her career in some major financial corporations. She started as a legal advisor, then project manager, at Credit Agricole Asset Management (now Amundi) in Paris and Luxembourg, where she conceptualized and managed customized solutions to drive new opportunities and lead businesses to a new international scale. Amundi gave her the opportunity to lead the product innovation and sales distribution of a new Socially Responsible Investments offer targeting the Middle Eastern and South East Asian sovereign entities, institutional clients, private banks and family offices. Gwen graduated with a Master in Business Law and a Master in Business Administration from the University of Bretagne Occidentale in France. She has a certification in Islamic Finance from the Security Investment Institute of London.

Pierre joined ENEA in 2016 where he provides strategic support to funds and entrepreneurs as well as market and sector analyses to corporations. Within ENEA, Pierre has worked for energy companies, public authorities, investors and startups. He has participated in prospective market and strategic positioning projects for the former and has conducted due diligence and provided methodological support for the latter. Before joining ENEA, Pierre worked for ENGIE within its Cleantech Venture Capital fund as an analyst. Prior to that, Pierre worked for BCG in Paris and consulted for National Grid in the US on the impact evaluation of climate risks on the company’s supply chain. His main focuses are energy storage and the integration of renewables on electricity networks and markets. Pierre graduated from HEC (Grande Ecole program) and MIT (Master of Science in Management Studies) where he specialized on Energy and Data Analytics. He also studied at the Shanghai International Studies University.

Ray is one of the founding partners of private equity firm Albamen Capital, an affiliate of Manulife Investment Management. Prior to founding Albamen Capital, Ray found and managed CGN Capital Partners Infrastructure Fund III ("CGN Fund III") a RMB 3.7 billion private equity fund focused on renewable energy. Ray has gained his investment experience from being involved in financial advisory mandates, principal investments in the infrastructure sector and operational management of infrastructure projects. Specifically, Ray has led investments in wind, solar, coal-fired, gas-fired power generation, energy transmission and distribution, coal bed methane gas field exploration and development, and transportation infrastructure in the China, ASEAN, Australia and Europe. Prior to founding CGN Fund III Ray was the Head of Infrastructure Investments at Ping An in Shenzhen. He was responsible for Ping An’s infrastructure investment activities, including serving on the Board of a number of Ping An’s private investments. Prior to Ping An, he was Head of Infrastructure – Asia of Babcock & Brown, a member of Babcock & Brown’s Global Infrastructure Executive Committee, Asian Infrastructure Fund’s investment committee, and he was a director on the boards of public company Sydney Gas Limited in Australia and private companies in China, HKSAR, Thailand, Singapore and Australia.

Vinod has 18 years of professional experience spanning private equity and strategic consulting. Prior to joining NIIFL, he spent ~13 years with IDFC Alternatives. Experience of the entire life cycle of investment management - origination, investment, portfolio management and divestment. Evaluated, invested, managed and exited companies across sectors including infrastructure, consumption, agri value chain, logistics, education, etc, . His investment management experience includes early stage, growth stage, and platform deals across diverse sectors, along with managing exits of portfolio companies through IPOs/strategic sale/secondaries. Prior to joining IDFC Alternatives, Vinod worked with Credit Analysis & Research Limited (CARE), and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). Vinod holds a MBA from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai, and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sardar Patel College of Engineering (SPCE), Mumbai.

Steven Hong is a Director at Castalia Advisors (Castalia), and has amassed 13 years of experience in infrastructure developed from Government, PwC, and most recently the Global Infrastructure Hub. During this time, he has worked on projects across an infrastructure asset’s lifecycle from policy and regulations, preparation and development, procurement and execution, and asset management, across the Asia Pacific market. Castalia is an independent international economic and financial infrastructure advisory firm. Founded in 1980, Castalia has pioneered infrastructure PPPs globally, and have advised on $US70 bn of privately finance infrastructure projects across transport, energy and water sectors in more than 100 countries. Castalia’s clients not only include institutional investors, but also developers, governments, utilities, regulators, and multilateral institutions.

Takahiro Kato is responsible for investments in infrastructure and energy funds as a gate keeper, which includes not only global and regional universe but also Japanese domestic infrastructure mandate. Takahiro joined DBJ group in 1995, and experienced over 15 years to energy and infrastructure projects in DBJ group located in Tokyo and London. He was seconded to Ministry of Finance in Japan and contributed for the adoption of OECD ECG environmental guideline (current environmental and social due diligence). He was also worked for investment manager as GP to Japan Greenhouse-gas Reduction Fund between 2015-2013. He experienced broad sectors such as energy, environment, social infrastructure, aviation, shipping, airport, road and telecom.

Andrew Kwok is Head of Private Infrastructure in Asia, based in Singapore, and sits on the Private Infrastructure Investment Committee and the Board of Directors of the firm's portfolio company Green Island Renewable Power and Unity Digital Infrastructure. He has 25 years of industry experience and, prior to joining Partners Group, worked as a Director in Challenger Limited's fund division, in Westpac Institutional Bank's infrastructure and PPP fund practice and at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Andrew holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Sydney, Australia and is a Chartered Accountant in Australia.

Scott is a founding Partner of Glennmont Partners.  He leads all of the firm’s solar initiatives and is actively involved in new financing initiatives. Scott has worked in renewable energy power generation for more than a decade, leading many of the investments across Glennmont’s fund platform. Prior to founding Glennmont Partners, Scott was the co-founder and director of Windsor Alternative Investments: a company formed to finance and develop solar power plants in Europe. Before focusing on renewable energy, Scott was involved in private equity acquisitions and debt capital finance for commercial real estate transactions in Europe and the United States.

At EDF Renewables, Sebastian is leading the effort to enable global industrial and commercial corporations to attain inspirational targets of 100% renewable power sourcing through direct power purchases and liberalizing power markets in the Asia Region. He has worked with renewable energy for close to 20-years. Previously, Sebastian was Director of Research & Advisory at Azure International – a company he co-founded in 2004. Sebastian also worked as an Independent Director at the Salkhit Wind Project – the first in Mongolia which was funded by GE Capital, FMO, EBRD and project sponsor Newcom. In London Sebastian specialized in due diligence supporting project finance and M&A transactions related to alternative energy. He also worked in the transition economies of Europe through the 1990’s heading the Warsaw equity research team and covering industrial manufacturing companies and state-sector asset privatization with Creditanstalt Investment bank - the leading western investment bank focused on the region at the time. Sebastian’s career spans debt and equity financing, project finance, equity research and valuation, mergers & acquisitions, management consulting and corporate governance within the context of alternative energy, energy markets and transition economies.

Shoji Misawa serves as Executive Director and Responsible Officer at the ORIX Asia Asset Management (OAAM) based in Hong Kong which is a wholly owned subsidiary of ORIX Corporation headquartered in Tokyo (ORIX). OAAM is HK SFC Type 1, 4 and 9 licensed asset management company established recently to provide professional investors with both debt and equity investment opportunities leveraging the loan and investment experience of ORIX Group in Asia. Misawa has joined ORIX in 1988 and served a number of senior roles within ORIX Group companies in Japan, Hong Kong, United States and Canada. Misawa is known as the expert of real estate structured finance and spoke at various industry events held in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and France. Misawa has received his B.A. in Commerce from Doshisha University, Kyoto.

Rohit has around 13 years of experience in Private Equity, Banking and Consulting. He is currently the Head of Principal Investments – Infrastructure in SMBC in charge of building a multi-country, multi-sector infrastructure focused equity investment platform attempting to create a well-diversified portfolio of investments in Asian Infrastructure. Previously, he was a senior member in the investment management team of Core Infrastructure India Fund (CIIF) an infrastructure fund jointly established by SMBC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Brookfield Asset Management focused on investing in Indian infrastructure opportunities. In this role, Rohit was involved in origination, evaluation, due diligence and execution of investments, as well as managing the assets post-acquisition. His investment transactions include investment in an energy storage platform (Nov 2016), investment in a diversified infrastructure platform (Aug 2015) and investment in a solar energy platform (Oct 2014) Rohit started his finance career in the project finance team of SMBC (from 2008) at Singapore working on lending/advisory deals across emerging markets. He has experience in financing, structuring and providing financial advisory services to large international project financing transactions in the areas of conventional power, renewable energy, petrochemical, oil and gas, mining and other infrastructure sectors. Rohit graduated in 2008 from McGill University, Canada with a MBA in finance. Prior to that, he did his under graduation in 2002 in Computer Science & Engineering from Utkal University, India.

Kunal Patel is Head of Partnerships Structured Solutions in Ørsted Wind Power, responsible for M&A, structuring and financing activities in relation to Ørsted's offshore wind assets. Kunal has been with Ørsted since 2012 primarily focussed on the divestment activities within the company, looking to create and execute structures that attract new investors to the sector. Among other projects Kunal has most recently overseen the financing of the Gode Wind 1, Borkum Riffgund 2, Walney Extension and Hornsea 1, bringing local institutional investors including insurance companies to the offshore wind sector via green bonds for the first time. Prior to joining Ørsted Kunal worked in the infrastructure and project finance team at Barclays, working across the renewables and UK PFI/PPP sectors. Kunal holds a degree in Economics and Philosophy along with being a CFA charterholder.

Mr. Prakash brings over 25 years of principal investing in the energy sector globally, first as a developer, owner and investor of conventional energy projects in North America and Asia and then as a private equity investor and developer of renewable energy projects in Asia. He has developed projects across the spectrum of conventional and renewable energy and driven these projects from conception through financial close, construction and finally operations. He is a Senior Advisor to Sarona Asset Management, a Toronto based private equity fund manager focused on delivering growth capital to companies that benefit local communities and the environment in emerging markets. Anand advises Sarona on renewable energy, climate and infrastructure. Mr. Prakash was a Managing Director at Asia Climate Partners (“ACP”) until recently. Anand was a Partner & Managing Director of FE Clean Energy Group, one of the pioneers in clean energy investing in Asia until 2015. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from St. Stephen’s College in New Delhi, India, an Economics Tripos degree from St. John’s College, Cambridge University and a Master’s in Public Administration from Cornell University.

Dany Qian is a Global Vice President of JinkoSolar, the world’s largest solar panel manufacturer. As part of Jinko’s leadership team, Dany has extensive experience on scaling businesses in the solar industry and led the execution of JinkoSolar’s market positioning strategy through the company’s transformation into an industry leader. As a leader of the world’s largest solar panel manufacturer, Dany has been very active in the global sustainability conversation and is one of the most widely recognized executives in the solar industry. In 2017, she was invited to deliver an address at the 9th BRICS Summit and co-chaired the B20 Energy, Climate, Resource & Efficiency taskforce and handed the taskforce’s recommendation to Angela Merkel, the chairwoman of the G20 summit. More recently, Ms. Qian has been invited to speak at the Asian Clean Energy Forum hosted by the Asian Development Bank (“ADB”), the Annual Meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (“AIIB”), and World Bank-Singapore Infrastructure Finance Summit hosted by the World Bank Group and the Singapore Ministry of Finance, where she shared her thoughts on how the arrival of solar grid parity is driving demand and business model innovation within the renewables sector.

Helge Rau has been working with wpd since 2003. As the company’s Head of M&A he has been involved in many on- and offshore wind transactions including the recent financing of the € 2.7 bn Taiwanese offshore wind project Yunlin as well as the financing of the German Butendiek and Nordergründe offshore wind projects. Prior to joining wpd, Helge has been trained as a banker and has long track record in providing corporate finance advisory. wpd is a leading international developer, owner and operator of renewables being active in 21 countries globally. The company’s track record comprises more than 4.5 GW of installed capacity and wpd’s owned wind power capacity exceeds 1.5 GW.

Updated bio coming soon.

Stefan Robertsson joined The Lantau Group as a Principal five years ago. He has over 25 years of experience across electricity markets in the Asia Pacific region, working in different capacities including market and strategic consultanting, project development, M&A and project finance. Since joining TLG, Stefan has done most of his work for private sector stakeholders including developers, equity investors and creditors, on assignments involving project work, market modelling and analysis. He has covered a number of TLG’s most strategic markets including Vietnam, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and China. Prior to joining TLG, Stefan spent nearly 10 years with CLP Group, where he served as head of Corporate Finance and Development for non-Hong Kong activities. He led the CLP Group Investment Committee and Chaired the TruEnergy Risk Committee for CLP's Australian trading and business activities. He also had significant involvement in CLP's investment activities in China, India, and South East Asia, covering the full spectrum of energy assets and opportunities. Prior to CLP Stefan was with various ABB Financial Services companies in the US, UK, and Asia. He earned his degree in Financial Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics.

Srini Viswanathan heads the renewable energy investment platform, Vibrant Energy Holdings which is investing and growing its South East Asia based C&I platform with a target of 500MW operational assets in the next two years and 1GW in next five years. Srini has experience in building solar businesses over the past 10 years in various roles as a developer, financier and operator. Previously, he was leading SunEdison India’s C&I business where he led the growth of India’s initial rooftop and C&I open access portfolio. And prior to that Srini was Country Manager with Solesa Solar Engineering, which provided rooftop and utility scale EPC services across India, Middle East and Africa. He switched his career from investment banking to solar investing by helping to build a mezzanine solar fund product for Sol Systems in Washington DC. He completed his MBA from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth after 10 years in the IT Services industry as international sales manager.

Marek T. Wolek is a Vice President at Fluence and responsible for Global Strategy and Partnerships. His prior experience includes covering Partnership Strategies at the AES Corporation, Infrastructure Investments at Partners Group, and Financial/M&A Advisory at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Marek has an MBA with Honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Diplom-Kaufmann degree from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University in Frankfurt am Main.

Mr. Zhang is a Partner in the Ares Credit Group, where he focuses on alternative credit investments. Prior to joining Ares in 2015, Mr. Zhang was an Associate at Goldman Sachs, where he focused on investment banking. Previously, Mr. Zhang was an Analyst at Barclays Capital, where he focused on investment banking. Mr. Zhang holds a B.A., with honors, from Harvard University in Economics.