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INVESTMENT BANKING |
SENIOR ADVISORS |
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IN MEMORIAM |
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INVESTMENT BANKING
Benjamin S. A. Moody
Co-Founder and Managing Director
Ben Moody is Co-founder and Managing Director of PAF Securities and Pan American Finance. Ben has over 25 years of experience in investment banking, corporate finance and private equity, and has worked extensively with companies in Latin America, the Caribbean and the U.S. Hispanic markets. Ben possesses both transaction and operating expertise in the Media and Communications sector and has extensive transaction experience in the Retail, Tourism and Transportation sectors.
From 1998 to 2001, Ben served as Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Ibero American Media Partners ("IAMP"), a $500 million private equity fund jointly owned by the Cisneros Group of Companies and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst. The fund made investments in the pay television, broadcast TV, radio and internet sectors: in 1998 acquiring the Cisneros Television Group, where Ben was Vice Chairman, and in 2001 merging with El Sitio to form Claxson Interactive Group (NASDAQ: XSON). Throughout his tenure at IAMP, Ben was responsible for negotiating, executing and integrating the fund's acquisitions along with performing his duties as CFO.
Prior to IAMP, Ben served as Managing Director at Violy, Byorum & Partners, an investment banking firm focused on Latin America, and held positions with Citicorp Securities and Continental Bank. Ben currently serves on the board of directors of various private companies. He is a graduate of the University of Oxford. You can e-mail Ben at: ben@pafsecurities.com
Mauricio Borgonovo Baldocchi
Director
Mauricio Borgonovo Baldocchi is Director of PAF Securities. Mauricio has 15 years of experience advising and operating companies in Latin America and the United States. During his career, he has participated in a variety of merger and acquisition, capital raising, recapitalization and leveraged buyout assignments.
Mauricio currently serves on the board of several companies in the Central American region, including General Business Machines (GBM), a company that in 1991 acquired six IBM subsidiaries in Central America and the Dominican Republic. Mauricio holds a Master of Business Administration degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. You can e-mail Mauricio at: mborgonovo@pafsecurities.com.
Jabier Arbeloa
Director
Jabier Arbeloa is Director of PAF Securities. Jabier has over 14 years of experience in business development, corporate M&A, and investment banking, including structuring complex debt financings, and strategic analysis. He has worked in a number of landmark transactions in several industries in Latin America, including food & beverages, telecom, and utilities.
Between 2005 and 2010, Jabier worked with PepsiCo as M&A and Business Development Director for Latin America, first based in Monterrey, Mexico, and later in Florida. Jabier played a leadership role in the execution of PepsiCo’s expansion agenda in the region in food and beverages. From 2002 to 2005, Jabier was Corporate Finance Vice President with Santander Investments, where he provided advisory services in debt financing and M&A transactions.
Jabier has Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Universidad Católica Andres Bello in Venezuela and an MBA from Cornell University. He was also professor of Financial Modeling and Analysis at Monterrey Institute of Technology’s graduate school of business. You can e-mail Jabier at: jarbeloa@pafsecurities.com
Gregorio Arimany
Associate
Gregorio Arimany has over 5 years of experience in engineering consulting, project management, and finance. Previously, he worked in the Corporate Finance Division at Citibank N.A. in Guatemala, focusing on debt restructuring and project financings in the construction and energy sectors. Prior to Citibank, he worked as a Structural and Civil Engineer Consultant and Project Manager for local and international projects at AECOM, specializing on large scale developments and “green” building projects for the private and public sectors. He has also worked as a Project Engineer for ADA Engineering, designing and managing real estate development projects, as well as projects for numerous governmental entities.
Gregorio holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.
Pedro Obregon
Associate
Pedro Obregon has two years of experience in investment banking. Prior to joining PAF Securities, he worked as an analyst at Bulger Capital, a specialized boutique investment bank advising Software and Services companies on a variety of corporate finance engagements including capital raising and mergers and acquisitions.
Pedro holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Yale University. You can e-mail Pedro at: pobregon@pafsecurities.com
Brian Groll
Analyst
Brian Groll has over two years of experience in investment banking. Prior to joining PAF Securities, he worked as an analyst at J.P. Morgan, based in New York, advising Latin American companies on several corporate finance engagements including mergers and acquisitions, IPOs and debt offerings.
Brian obtained his Bachelor of Science, Summa Cum Laude, undergraduate degree in Finance from the University of Miami. You can e-mail Brian at: bgroll@pafsecurities.com
SENIOR ADVISORS
Michael Bax
Senior Advisor
Michael Bax is Senior Advisor to Pan American Finance. He has over 15 years of experience investing in and operating power companies in Latin America and the Caribbean. Michael currently serves on the boards of directors of six energy companies and is the COO of Basic Energy Ltd., a 1,400MW regional power company with $800 million in revenue, operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, and a portfolio of technologies operating on coal, gas, diesel and wind. At Basic Energy, Michael led the acquisition of four power companies and of control positions in two others, managed the development and expansion of three thermal greenfield projects and a 50MW wind farm, and participated in multiple PPA bids. From 1997 to 2000, Michael served as Regional Manager in Latin America for CDC Capital Partners (CDC), where he was responsible for the development and management of a portfolio of $650 million in equity and debt investments. Prior to CDC, for a period of two years, he served as CEO of Compañía de Electricidad de Puerto Plata (CEPP) in the Dominican Republic. Michael spent the first 10 years of his professional career with Deloitte and Touche. He is qualified as a Chartered Accountant of the Institute of England and Wales and is a graduate of Bristol University in the United Kingdom.
Milton Brady
Senior Advisor, PAF Securities
Milton is Senior Advisor to Pan American Finance. He has over 35 years of experience in financial services, and media and telecom, in the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Milton served as Chief Commercial Officer of LIME, the Caribbean leading telecommunications company. Previously, he held leading roles in First Caribbean International Bank, including Managing Director for Corporate Investment Banking, and Managing Director of First Caribbean International Bank Jamaica.
Prior to that, Milton was Group Chief Risk Officer of National Commercial Bank Jamaica and President of Sweden’s SEB New York, and Director and Global Head of Credit at SEB Merchant Banking, headquartered in Sweden. Additionally, he held several positions with Chemical Bank in the USA, and Citibank and Coopers & Lybrand in Jamaica.
Milton has Bachelor of Arts (summa cum laude) and MBA (magna cum laude) from Pace University in New York, post-graduate courses in New York University, Villanova University, INSEAD (France), and Association for Financial Professionals.
R. Andrew de Pass, CFA
Senior Advisor, PAF Securities
Andrew de Pass is Senior Advisor to Pan American Finance. Andrew has over 10 years of private equity investment experience in Latin America. His sector investment experience includes renewable energy, media, telecom, retail and paper & packaging.
Between 2009 and early 2011, Andrew was both a Partner and Senior Advisor at Greentech Capital Advisors, an investment bank focused on renewable energy and cleantech. Prior, Andrew was the founder and head of Citi’s Sustainable Development Investments group (2007 – 2009), a private equity group within Citi Alternative Investments that invested in growth companies in renewable and alternative energy and other green sectors.
In addition, Andrew was a managing director in Citi Venture Capital International, an investment unit focused on developing markets, with a focus on Latin America (1997 – 2007). Prior to Citi, Andrew worked at Morgan Stanley from 1989 to 1996 in the investment banking and equity divisions.
Andrew graduated in 1989 from The Richard Ivey School of Business Administration at the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor of Arts in Honors Business Administration, with Distinction, and was awarded the Gold Medal. He received the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst in 1998.
Mayu Hume
Senior Advisor
Mayu Hume is Senior Advisor to Pan American Finance. For over 30 years she has occupied positions of leadership in the public and private sector, and currently serves on the boards of 14 for-profit and not-for-profit organizations in Peru including ING Wealth Management, AFP Integra (Chairman), InVita, InCasa; FiduPeru, Renting Peru, Leasing Peru (Bancolombia Group companies); Austral Group; Green Peru; Pro Mujer International; Fundacion Peruana del Cancer, and Museo de Arte de Lima. Mayu has also served as Country Manager in Peru and Colombia for ING Group, as Vice Minister of Commerce (Peru), and as advisor to the Inter-American Development Bank. She holds Social Science, Engineering, and Management degrees from Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru and has completed post-graduate work at Universidad de Piura, IESE, and University of Michigan.
Hendrick Luhl
Senior Advisor
Hendrik Luhl is Senior Advisor to Pan American Finance. He has over 25 years of experience as a banker with development finance institutions, having joined the German Development Bank (DEG) in 1980, serving initially as head of various Asian divisions and then as Director and Head of the Latin American Department, where he was responsible for originating and structuring debt and equity transactions. Hendrik retired from DEG in 2006 to work independently as a financial advisor. He is a graduate of Freiburg University in Germany.
José Antonio Ríos
Senior Advisor
José Antonio Ríos is Senior Advisor to Pan American Finance. For over 30 years he has served in executive leadership positions for large corporations across Asia, Europe and Latin America, and on numerous corporate and philanthropic boards. José Antonio currently serves as CEO of Vadium Technology, a Washington-based technology company and worldwide leader in unbreakable encryption security solutions. He also serves as Chairman of Global Crossing Latin America, and recently retired as International President and Chief Administrative Officer of Global Crossing Ltd. and as Chairman of Global Crossing U.K.
Prior to joining Global Crossing Ltd. in 2001, José Antonio served as President and CEO of Telefónica Media and as Chairman of Atento and was also one of seven members of the Executive Committee of the parent company, Telefónica S.A. Previously, he served as the Founding President and CEO of DIRECTV™ Latin America and Vice President and permanent member of the Management Committee of Hughes Electronics. José Antonio’s early executive career was spent with the Cisneros Group of Companies, where he served as COO and Corporate Vice President. As a founding member of the group’s Global Executive Committee, he helped to lead the group’s globalization efforts.
José Antonio is founding Chairman of Navidad Real Estate Holding, a Florida real estate investment company. He is a Director of the prestigious Chilean organization Fundación País Digital, a Board Member of the Inter-American Dialogue's Latin America Advisor, and Honorary Business Representative of Singapore. In the past, he served as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Endemol Entertainment, one of the world's leading entertainment production companies, and as Chairman of the Audit and Compensation Committees and a member of the board of directors of Claxson Interactive Group.
IN MEMORIAM
Ralph von Specht
1950 - 2011
Co-Founder and Managing Director
Ralph von Specht was Co-Founder and Managing Director of Pan American Finance and PAF Securities. Ralph passed away on September 18, 2011 after a brave struggle with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease). Ralph faced his adversity with courage, directness, and his characteristic sense of humor. In the brief time given to him, following his diagnosis in January 2011, Ralph showed us how to live life and to face the inevitable. Ralph is survived by his wife, Celia; his father, Dieter; his sisters, Cornelia and Sylvie; his brother, Andreas; and their families. Ralph is much missed.
For over 35 years, Ralph provided sound advice and good counsel to companies and their owners, to institutional investors and to governments, principally in the Latin American markets. He had particular expertise and extensive transaction experience in the Consumer Products, Food & Beverages, and Industrials & Manufacturing sectors. Ralph’s family’s banking heritage dates back to 1590, to the founding of what is now Berenberg Bank, the oldest private banking business in Germany. For more than 400 years, the family and company have been closely linked with the city of Hamburg, Germany.
Ralph began his banking career in 1975 with J.P. Morgan in Frankfurt, Germany, and, shortly thereafter, relocated to New York to work on the bank’s German Desk, advising German corporations and their U.S. subsidiaries. With the debt crisis of 1982, Ralph began what became his career focus on Latin America, managing and executing mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, project financings and corporate finance transactions, such as debt and equity placements, bank refinancings, and loan syndications. He served as J.P. Morgan's representative on the debt refinancing advisory committees for Argentina and Venezuela, and led several large restructuring transactions, such as Aerolíneas Argentinas, Banco de la Nación de Argentina, Electricidad de Caracas, Toyota de Venezuela and General Motors de Venezuela.
In 1988, Ralph founded his first investment banking firm, von Specht & Asociados, in Caracas, Venezuela. The company soon became one of the leading corporate finance advisors in the country. He represented the interests of ING Bank in Venezuela and became their joint venture partner, together with Banco Latino. After selling his interest in the joint venture in 1996, he formed and built La Ceiba Finance, also an investment banking advisory firm, and subsequently partnered with Vencred, an affiliate of Banco Venezolano de Credito. Compelled by the changing political situation in Venezuela, he relocated to Miami in 2001 and, with Ben Moody, co-founded Pan American Finance in 2003 and PAF Securities in 2006.
Ralph was a graduate of Hamburg University and the European Business School (in Frankfurt, Paris and London), after surviving his boarding school education at Louisenlund in Guby, Germany.
Ralph, together with his wife, Celia, was committed to helping those around him, particularly those experiencing adversity. Ralph became the unofficial “mayor” of the small fishing village of Caruao, Venezuela, where he and Celia maintained a weekend home, and – under the banner “Poder a los Ninos” and with the help of his friends (and a little “arm-twisting”) – initiated projects to expand the local medical clinic, to establish the village’s first library, to equip the local baseball team, to preserve the environment and wildlife, and to sponsor an annual Christmas party for the children of the village.
Ralph also led campaigns to raise money to re-build homes in Grenada, Peru and Venezuela, after devastation caused by hurricane, earthquake and flood. In 2007, Ralph created the Pan American Finance Relief Fund to fund such charitable efforts, and funded the re-building of 4 homes in Peru owned by employees of a client of the firm. In his memory, we are re-christening this as the
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give” (Sir Winston Churchill).
