About us
Grindlays & Co. is a strategic consulting company with offices in Lisbon and London. We handle some of the most critical issues influencing global policy and affecting the bottom line of public and private enterprises. We bring a formidable and unique combination of transaction expertise and a resourceful network across the equity ecosystem. Our senior professionals are world-class consultants and industry veterans who draw upon the firm’s restructuring heritage to help leaders turn change into a strategic business asset, manage risk and unlock value at every stage.
The Team
Shiv Shankar Nair
Principal Advisor
Mr. Nair was appointed as an advisor in Financial Engineering and Government Advisory roles. He is also recognised as a leading practitioner of Conflict Resolution and Consensus Building among Sovereign states. Mr. Nair has spent the past twenty years in putting together some of the most iconic infrastructure projects in Africa and Latin America, using Chinese Exim credits, so much so, that the Economist magazine once dubbed him “China’s secret weapon in Africa”.
As an entrepreneur, he has set up and sold several companies in the “Economies in Transition.” He bought, developed, and sold off British Borneo Petroleum, an old midcap oil company. In 1995, he set up the first post-Soviet insurance company in the Republic of Georgia, and in 2004, when it had become the largest independent insurer in Georgia, he sold it to the Bank of Georgia.
Manana Tsitsishvili
Consultant
Ms. Tsitsishvili heads the insurance and reinsurance broking arm of the Group. She has more than twenty years of experience in all aspects of the insurance industry, having been the deputy CEO of an insurance broker, an insurance company, and finally the Chief Regulator of Insurance Companies in the Republic of Georgia.
Ms. Tsitsishvili started her career in the early 90´s as the deputy head of the first post-soviet European insurer in Georgia, Tbilisi London Insurance Ltd. In 1998, the company was converted into the first post-soviet Insurance Company in Georgia and Ms. Tsitsishvili became the Deputy CEO of the company. In 2001 Ms. Tsitsishvili was appointed as a Deputy CEO of AON Georgia. Ms. Tsitsishvili has part completed a Phd in Business Administration from the State University Tbilisi.
Yiquian Ran
Consultant
Yi Qian Ran, who holds a Master’s degree in Financial Services from the University of Malta and a Graduate degree in Law from Sichuan, leads the Group’s China-related activities. She has extensive experience structuring sovereign-to-sovereign credit transactions and has been involved in most of the major Chinese bank-funded projects initiated and closed by us.
She headed the Group’s team involved in the new aerial early warning system of the Government of Ecuador, the construction of the western railway line in Ghana, the new gas pumping station and allied works for the Jubilee field. Ms.Ran has been closely following the top Chinese contracting companies and was also involved in negotiations with a major Chinese oil company for assistance in operations in Turkey and Nigeria.
Ras Withanage
Consultant
Mr. Withanage heads the Group’s Information Technology vertical. Prior to this, he served for over twenty years in the fields of disruptive technology, product development, renewable energy, sustainability, marketing, and brand management segments in the banking, telecommunication, media, and information technology industries.
He started his career with ANZ Grindlays Bank in Sri Lanka. Prior to joining the Group, he was a member of the management committee of Virtusa Corporation and Dialog Axiata PLC. Mr. Withanage has also been working as a board director of the United Nations Global Compact agency in Sri Lanka. He holds a Master’s in business administration from the University of Wales. Also participated a Postgraduate programme in sustainability leadership at the University of Cambridge.
Hussain Al Lawati
Consultant
Mr. Al-Lawati is an Omani businessman. He has diversified interests in real estate, civil contracting, and technology and innovation. He has founded multiple companies that are successfully operating in Oman and the GCC region. Mr. Al-Lawati’s most recent startup, IbdaaTek, offers cutting edge technology and cybersecurity solutions leverages his extensive global network of like-minded professionals to assist Middle East-based startups in expanding internationally.
His other companies, Slipi Al Omaniya and Al-Juthoor, which provide civil contracting, and real estate consulting and advisory services respectively, have been in operation since 2008. Mr. Al-Lawati earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of St Louis, Missouri in December 2003, with a BA. Emphasis is on Finance, Marketing and International Business.
Vinod Nair
Consultant
Get in Touch
Alameda Dos Oceanos 27, D5 Lisbon 1990-197, Portugal
T : +351 218 960 049 E: [email protected]