Team
We are an experienced team with international experience and on the ground presence.
Executive Team
Executive Team
Nilesh Desai Group Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer
Nilesh Desai
Group Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer
Nilesh has over 25 years’ experience across private and public debt within Europe and North America. Previously, Nilesh was Managing Director at Ares Management, Europe, within leveraged and high-yield markets across multiple sectors. Nilesh spent 7 years in the Credit Alternatives Group at The Carlyle Group, London (as a credit committee member) and New York. He started at KPMG, then went to Citigroup’s Leveraged Finance Portfolio Group. Nilesh holds a BSc (Hons) in Management Science from the University of Warwick, is a chartered accountant and a CFA charterholder.
Iván Cristóbal Co-founder, Executive Chairman, Spain
Iván Cristóbal
Co-founder, Executive Chairman, Spain
Iván has over 20 years of experience in private markets. Previously, he was an Independent Insolvency Administrator, handling 150 cases with liabilities exceeding €1.5bn across various industries. Spain’s association of the insolvency administrators (REFOR) acknowledges Iván as a restructuring mediator. Iván holds degrees in auditing and economics plus a master’s from the University of Barcelona and Valencia. He also lectures at the University of Valencia and has joined numerous national discussions with Spanish courts regarding bankruptcy law.
Thomas Parachini General Counsel
Thomas Parachini
General Counsel
Investments & Origination
Investments & Origination
Robert Thompson Managing Director, Investments
Robert Thompson
Managing Director, Investments
Rob has more than 40 years’ experience in lending to UK SMEs, in both Credit and Business Development roles, having held senior positions in Barclays Bank, AIB and Santander.
Prior to joining, Rob spent 6 years as Regional Head of Credit at Thincats, an alternative finance provider, where he had oversight of debt structuring and underwriting alongside developing and building out key strategic business sectors.
Rob is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.
Carolina Jiménez Head of Capital Solutions
Carolina Jiménez
Head of Capital Solutions
Carolina is part of our investment team and has 14 years’ experience in restructuring and debt advisory within the Spanish middle market. Previously, Carolina was a Director in PwC Spain’s Restructuring and Debt Advisory team, responsible for business recovery, financial services and deal advisory for Spain’s Levante region. Since 2008 she has been involved in over 40 refinancing and underwritings, exceeding €7bn of negotiated debt. Carolina holds a degree in Business Administration from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
Fátima García-Nieto Head of Credit Underwriting
Fátima García-Nieto
Head of Credit Underwriting
Fátima is part of our investment team, overseeing the analysis, underwriting and execution of prospective investee companies. She has 18 years’ experience in corporate finance, credit analysis and credit solutions within the Spanish middle market. Previously, Fátima worked at Deutsche Bank as Head of Credit Risk for Spain’s SME portfolio and at Barclays Bank in the Corporate Banking area in various capacities within credit risk and client coverage. Fátima holds a BA in Business Administration from CUNEF, specialising in Financial Management.
Christian Juel Head of ESG and Impact Alignment
Christian Juel
Head of ESG and Impact Alignment
Christian heads up our impact offering and is part of our investment team, where he is responsible for underwriting and executing transactions for prospective investee companies. His 18 years of financial market experience includes over 9 years within the Spanish middle market and further experience across public markets, listed instruments, structured products, and debt capital markets. Previously, Christian worked at Cuantia Capital, advising Spanish SMEs on capital raising and executing secondary opportunities. Christian has a BA Hons from Newcastle University, an MBA from IE Business School, Madrid and has attended Impact Investing and Impact Measurement programmes at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, where he is also a guest speaker.
Jesús Martel Executive Director
Jesús Martel
Executive Director
Jesús is part of our investment team, overseeing existing portfolios. His 12 years of financial industry experience include over 10 years within the middle market in alternative capital solutions across debt and equity. Jesús worked as senior credit analyst for a debt marketplace platform, offering SMEs unsecured asset-backed and equity solutions. He holds a degree in Economics and Business Administration from Universidad San Pablo CEU, a master’s in International Finance from Napier University in Edinburgh and a master’s in Tax Advisory from the University of Cádiz.
Jesús Martel Executive Director
Jesús Martel
Executive Director
Jesús is part of our investment team, overseeing existing portfolios. His 12 years of financial industry experience include over 10 years within the middle market in alternative capital solutions across debt and equity. Jesús worked as senior credit analyst for a debt marketplace platform, offering SMEs unsecured asset-backed and equity solutions. He holds a degree in Economics and Business Administration from Universidad San Pablo CEU, a master’s in International Finance from Napier University in Edinburgh and a master’s in Tax Advisory from the University of Cádiz.
Miguel Ángel Plaza Vice President
Miguel Ángel Plaza
Vice President
Miguel is part of our investment team and has over 7 years of experience in private markets and alternative investments. Previously, Miguel was part of the investment team at alternatives firm RM Funds in London, where he underwrote, executed, and monitored private debt investments, and was involved in the execution of capital raising mandates. He has experience in corporate private debt and equity, real estate, and infrastructure investments, as well as structured products and debt capital markets. Miguel holds a MEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southampton and is a CFA Charterholder.
Salvador Doncel Associate Vice President
Salvador Doncel
Associate Vice President
Salvador is part of our investment team and focuses on defining, developing, and executing our investee’s ESG and Impact strategies. Salvador has more than 8 years of experience within sustainable and ESG related consulting at PwC, where he worked with a broad range of clients from IBEX 35 businesses to Private Equity firms and their investees. During this time, he focused on topics such as sustainability reporting regulation, impact measurement, environmental (carbon) footprint analysis and ESG risks and opportunities. Salvador holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Technology Engineering, a Master’s Degree in Industrial Management and the CFA ESG Certificate.
Javier Boceta Investment Associate
Javier Boceta
Investment Associate
Javier is part of our investment team. Prior to Aptimus, Javier was part of the investment team at Corpfin Capital where he collaborated in the development and execution of a number of transactions, as well as portfolio management. Prior to that, Javier was part of the investment team at Albatros Equity. Javier holds a double degree in Business Administration and International Relations from the Universidad Loyola Andalucía.
Advisers
Advisers
Enrique Bujidos Adviser
Enrique Bujidos
Adviser
Enrique has 35 years of experience as Adviser in Deals. As a PwC partner, Enrique created and led the Spanish Restructuring practice in 2006. Expert in financial analysis, corporate valuations, due diligence and M&A processes, Enrique has advised multiple public and private companies as well as financial entities in Restructuring and Refinancing processes in Spain and LATAM. Enrique holds a degree in Business Administration from Universidad Complutense de Madrid and is a Spanish Certified Public Accountant and acts as a Mentor. Enrique is professor in ESCP Europe, IE and ESIC teaching Financial Restructuring.
Legal & Operations
Legal & Operations
Javier Segura Senior Legal Counsel
Javier Segura
Senior Legal Counsel
Javier has over 9 years of experience as a lawyer and specialises in national and international financing, direct lending, refinancing and distressed transactions. Previously, Javier worked in the Madrid and London offices of Cuatrecasas. As an Associate in the finance and restructuring department he advised international investors on a wide variety of financing transactions. Javier is admitted to practice law in Spain and holds a double degree in Law and Business Administration (BBA) from Universidad de Zaragoza and Sao Paulo University.
Víctor Viseras Operations Director
Víctor Viseras
Operations Director
Víctor is responsible of our operations team. including investments and other operations within the Group. His 11 years of financial industry experience include 8 years across public markets, listed securities and debt capital markets. Previously, Víctor worked in internal audit and Global Market Risk at Santander Group, Spain and the UK. He holds a master’s in Mathematics and Computer Sciences from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Víctor has passed level two of the CFA and is a Certified Advisor (CAd).
Finance & Reporting
Finance & Reporting
William Lake Group Finance Director
William Lake
Group Finance Director
William is part of our finance team, running our financial and management reporting processes as well as coordinating audits. His 20 years of industry experience includes 11 years at AllianceBernstein, a leading US asset manager, and 3 years at ThomasLloyd, an investment advisor specialising in renewable energy projects. Previously, William worked at Oaktree Capital, advising on cash-flow processes in their European private debt funds. He holds a BSc in mathematics from Warwick University and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
Susana Cristóbal Financial Controller, Spain
Susana Cristóbal
Financial Controller, Spain
Susana has more than 20 years’ experience in office management, administration and operations, covering functions including supplier payments, client payments, cheque issuance, cash handling, writing and receiving documents, file management, customer service, accounting, management agenda, control and coordinating meetings and trips.
Bartek Czerwinski Finance Analyst
Bartek Czerwinski
Finance Analyst
Bartek is part of our finance team in London. Prior to Aptimus, Bartek gained over 10 years of experience in accounting and finance with various multinationals, including Hewlett Packard, Apple, Discovery Inc and Burberry. Bartek has a BA in Business Management with Spanish from Edinburgh Napier University. As part of his double degree program, Bartek spent a year studying in IPAG (Ecole de Commerce) in Nice where he gained the diploma in management (bac+4).
Mariela Delgado Finance & Recovery
Mariela Delgado
Finance & Recovery
Mariela is part of our finance team and has over 30 years of experience across tax, audit and bankruptcy administration. During her career, Mariela has worked with multiple companies in the Spanish market, largely with clients in the middle market space. Mariela has a degree in Economic and Business Science from the University of Valladolid, a master’s in Taxation and Tax Consulting as well as Audit from CEF and a master’s in Bankruptcy Administration from UPV.
Office Management
Office Management
Hedoné Arana Office Manager, Madrid
Hedoné Arana
Office Manager, Madrid
Before joining Aptimus, Hedoné spent 13 years as secretary and paralegal within one of the companies of COFRA Holding AG established in Madrid. She provided legal, fiscal, and administrative services to the group companies in Spain and Portugal. She holds a BA in Law from the University of Deusto (Bilbao), a master’s degree in Foreign Trade from the University of the Basque Country, a Postgraduate Diploma in HR and the ABITUR, German education certificate, from the German School of Bilbao.