Mark Brown - Managing Director
Founded BNRI in 2006, previously twelve years banking experience
Based in: London
+44 207 773 3281
Mark founded the business in 2006 and is responsible for setting the investment strategy, hiring the team and has been integrally involved in all investments made to date. Previously Mark was a Director in the Barclays Capital Principal Investments team (2004 – 2006) and the Structured Capital Markets (1998 – 2004). Mark joined Barclays Capital in July 1998 from Dresdner Kleinwort Benson where he was a member of the Structured Finance Group. Prior to that, he was part of the Structured Finance group at Rabobank. Mark graduated from The City University with a First Class degree in Actuarial Science.
David Ellis - Managing Director
Nine years corporate finance and principal investing in metals and mining
Based in: New York
+1 212 526 0770
Deals with Barclays Natural Resource Investments include INR Energy, Enhance Energy and American Wind Capital, Cupric Canyon Capital, Southern Peaks and NRI.
David transferred from the Mining and Metals Investment Banking team to the BNRI team in 2006 at the inception of the business. He was an associate director in the Mining and Metals Banking team (2004 – 2006) where the major focus was on project finance debt mandates and project finance advisory work. Prior to joining Barclays Capital, David was at Société Générale (2002 – 2004) working in the Mining and Metals coverage team and at PKF (1997 – 2002) where he worked as an auditor.
David is a qualified Chartered Accountant and holds BSc in Accounting and Financial Management from Sheffield University.
Meb Somani - Head of Oil & Gas Investments.
Twenty years oil and gas experience with Shell and Texaco. Nine plus years in corporate finance at Harrison Lovegrove/ principal investing at Actis and Barclays Capital
Based in: London
+44 203 134 6848
Deals with BNRI include CEOC, Nio Petroleum and Hydra Energy, Tulip Oil and Third Energy.
Meb joined the BNRI team in early 2009. Previously he was Head of Oil and Gas Investments at Actis Capital (2006 – 2008), where deals included Asia Pacific Exploration Consolidated LP (where he continues to represent Actis), Gulf of Guinea Energy Ltd and LMKR. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director at Harrison Lovegrove (2001 – 2006), where he advised on acquisitions and divestments around the world valued at several billion dollars. Previously he was at Texaco (1997 – 2001) as evaluation manager and at Shell (1981 – 1997) in senior petroleum engineering and asset management roles.
Meb is a Chartered Petroleum Engineer and a long standing member of several industry associations. He holds a First Class Honours degree in Engineering from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, London and an MBA from Henley Management College.
Tom Cairns - Director
Eleven years principal investing at Nomura, Cazenove and Barclays Capital
Based in: London
+44 207 773 4538
Deals with Barclays Natural Resource Investments include CEOC, Chrysaor, Tulip Oil, Third Energy and NGP.
Tom joined the large capitalisation buyout business of Barclays Capital in November 2003, before transferring to BNRI team in 2006 at the inception of the business. Prior to joining Barclays, he was an investment manager at Cazenove private equity (2001 – 2003) focusing on the technology, media and telecom sectors. Previously he worked for Nomura in their Technology Principal Investments team (1999 – 2001) and for Arthur Andersen (1996 – 1999).
Tom is a qualified Chartered Accountant and holds a First Class Honours degree in Maths from Cambridge University.
Freddie Lee - Director and Head of Investor Relations
Nine years principal investing at RBS and Barclays Capital
Based in: London
+44 207 773 1429
Deals with Barclays Natural Resource Investments include Nio Petroleum and Tankers Inc. Freddie also runs the external fund raising activities of BNRI.
Freddie joined the BNRI team in 2008. Previously he was a Director in the Large Capitalisation Buyout division of Barclays Capital, where deals included Somerfield (2005 – 2009). From 2001-2005, he was an Investment Manager at RBS Equity Finance, where deals included Rhodium Investments and thebrickbusiness Limited. Prior to that he was a Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company in London.
Freddie holds a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University.
Martin Miles - COO
Eleven years of transaction support and COO experience
Based in: London
+44 207 773 5535
Martin is the COO of the BNRI business. Previously was the COO of the Large Capitalisation Buyout division of Barclays Capital. Martin’s responsibilities include day to day management of the portfolio, execution of transactions, risk management and liaising with other internal functions within the bank. Previously he was an Associate Director in the structuring business at Barclays Capital. Prior to joining Barclays, Martin was with Ernst & Young (2002 – 2005) and Arthur Andersen (1995 – 2002).
Martin is a qualified Chartered Accountant and holds a BSc in Economics and Management from Leeds University and a MBA from Warwick University.
Adam Darling - Director
Eleven years at Morgan Stanley, Société Générale and Barclays Capital
Based in: London
+44 207 773 1974
Deals with Barclays Natural Resource Investments include Enhance Energy and UK Power Reserve
Adam joined the BNRI team in 2007. Prior to joining Barclays Capital, he was a Vice President at Société Générale’s Energy Project Finance team (2002 – 2007) and provided debt underwriting and project debt raising advisory services for energy projects in Europe, the Middle East & Africa. Deals at Société Générale include Dragon LNG, Sohar IWPP, Sur IWP and Ensus Bioethanol. Previously Adam worked at Morgan Stanley (2000 – 2002).
Adam holds a BA in Modern History from Oxford University
