Henri J. Chaoul

Managing Partner, Levantine Partners

In 2016, Henri founded Levantine Partners, a corporate finance advisory boutique-firm based in Beirut and Dubai, and is currently its Managing Partner. His mandates cover an array of industries with a concentration on Africa and the Middle East. In this capacity, Henri has led M&A transactions of significant sizes, raised financing for several industrial projects, and is currently involved on major infrastructure projects in Africa and investments in Egypt and the GCC. His clients cover several industrial poles such as finance, confectionary, bread production, milling, frozen food distribution, poultry, and laundry & home care. In 2020, Henri advised the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Lebanon on all matters related to the sovereign debt restructuring, the Government Reform Program and was a member of the official delegation representing Lebanon in the negotiations with the IMF. Since then, Henri is sought after as a lead expert on financial sector restructuring. Henri was the Chief Investment Officer and Head of Asset Management of Alkhabeer Capital, an alternative asset management company based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia between 2012 and 2016. Henri oversaw the investment of an excess of 900 million USD across private equity, real estate and capital markets and served on a number of boards of portfolio companies as well as represented the asset management industry in Saudi Arabia on an advisory board created by the Capital Market Authority. In January 2014, Henri joined the board of envisionTec, Inc., a 3D printing company headquartered in the United States with global operations and chairs its Board Audit Committee and is a member of its Governance and Compensation committees. From December 2011 until May 2014, Henri joined the Board of Directors of Bonds.com, a publicly-quoted company in the United States focusing on electronic trading of fixed income instruments and headed its Audit Committee and was member of its Compensation Committee. Since 2010 (and until 2020), Henri served as an independent non-executive board member of CreditBank, a commercial bank based in Lebanon and one of its active commercial lenders, where he was a member of the Board Audit Committee and the Board Governance Committee and served as President of both the Board Committee on Risk Management as well as the Board Remuneration Committee. From 2009 to mid-2012, Henri served as the Chief Executive Officer of Master Capital Group SAL, a financial broker based in the Lebanon that introduces cutting-edge financial trading platforms to clients in the Middle East and North Africa and served on its board of directors until October 2014. In 2008 and 2009, Henri co-founded the first hedge fund operations in Lebanon. Prior to that, between 2004 and 2008, Henri was a Managing Director at Credit Suisse in London, running Europe's Buy-Side Insights Group, the specialized practice that dealt with all corporate finance issues of the investment bank division. Between 2002 and 2004, Henri was the Global Managing Partner of KPMG's economic consulting practice and was based in Paris. Earlier, and between 2000 and 2002, Henri was a Partner of Monitor Group, a strategy consulting firm and co-started its Chicago office. Between 1994 and 2002, Henri was a Principal of A.T. Kearney, a management consulting practice, focusing on development of value-based management strategies. Henri is often quoted by major financial outlets such as The Financial Times and is a frequent market commentator on major regional TV channels such as CNBC and Al Arabiya. Henri received his B.A. in Economics from the American University of Beirut and his Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University in New York City.