Intelligence Unit

The Kabena Intelligence Unit comprises a team of high-profile experts who help Kabena understand and navigate some of the toughest business challenges.
KIU constantly improves Kabena and Kabena's project progress through their consultancy, advisory and networking solutions. They do this through regular quality control measures, which limit risk, improve yield and enhance quality of product.
Taking the big picture into account, they constantly look out for opportunities to optimise current and new projects. 
The underlying feature of their work is corporate ethics. This includes corporate responsibilities as environmental protection, bolstering local economies, developing local infrastructure and improve the lives of local communities. 
Orchestrating
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Prof. Dr. Loritz
Law & Tax

Univ. Dr. iur. habil. Karl-Georg Loritz, born in 1953, was full professor until October 2018 and was holding a chair for Civil Law, Tax Law, Employment Law and was one of two Directors of the Research Center for Corporate and Capital Markets Law and Corporate Tax Law - Companies, Capital Markets & Taxes - (CoCapT) in the University of Bayreuth.

He was and is also practising als specalised tax consultant and lawyer.

After passing both juridical state examinations in Regensburg and Munich, he was after activities in der faculties of law on the University of Regensburg and of the University of Geneva, Switzerland, graduated by the University of Konstanz in 1978 (doctor iur.).  After acitivities in the tax department of the Bavarian Ministry of Finance and in the Faculty of law oft he University of Konstanz, he was habilitated by this university in 1983 in the subjects of civil law, commercial law, tax law, labor law and civil procedural law.

After this time he was in the status as scientific employee at the Federal Constitutional Court. He received his first call to a chair in the University of Berlin in 1984. After that, he accepted calls to institutes and chairs in Würzburg (1987 – 1994), Mainz (1994  - 1998) and Bayeuth (1998 -2018). During the time in Würzburg he was also judge at the district court in the second main office.

He did not follow a call to the law faculty on a chair on the University of Vienna in 2002.

In addition, in 1996 and 1998 he was a professor at the Faculty of Law Droit of the University of Geneva/Switzerland.

Prof. Loritz was is a member of several supervisory boards in stock companies of various industries, as well as are the the supervisiory board of FWU AG, Munich (international life insurance, specialised on unit-linked insurance policies), the positions as Chariman of the supercisory board in Research Media AG, Rheda-Wiedenbrück (Internet-based real estate and investmentfund newspapers), in RSBK-AG, Frankfurt am Main (German-Chinese management consultancy),  in Finance Base AG, Munich (FinTech enterprise)  and as Chairman of the Board of Directors of CB Consulta AG, St. Gallen (international company specializied in swiss, german and european antitrust law advice).

He is the author of 15 books and more than 300 other publications mainly in the fields of civil, tax, capital investment, real estate, labor, procedural and constitutional law.

The activity as a tax consultant and legal expert and since this year also as a lawyer he exercises nationwide and international, with emphasis in the areas of corporate, tax, economic, capital investment law. His clients include enterprises, from great international corporations to medium-sized companies as well as federal ministeries and also families an family offices. Specialist areas are entrepreneurial structuring (tax law, corporate law, management contracts, transactions), real estate and investment concepts.

Harald Zenke
Finance

Harald Zenke has been a Managing Director of North Channel Bank since April 1, 2017. Until the end of March 2017, he served as Managing Director of the (Strategy & Finance) Advisory platform in Frankfurt which he founded in 2013. He successfully served clients, focusing on strategic changes in the financial industry, the development of financing concepts for medium-sized and multi-national enterprises, and he was actively involved in entrepreneurial advisory services.

Mr Zenke has profound knowledge in complex financing structures (structured finance, LBOs, etc. – relating to borrowed capital, mezzanine capital and equity) as well as their effects in turn on the overall strategy of an enterprise.

His core expertise also includes the development of overall sales strategies and, in relation to financing, overall strategies for new products or regional markets. Harald Zenke also has a vast expertise in consulting German and European midsized businesses, and has remarkably in-depth industry knowledge of the renewable energies, automotive supply, logistics, infrastructure and transportation (shipping, aviation) industries, and also in “digital business models” and local government infrastructure solutions.

Mr Zenke has more than 15 years of experience in the direct management of sales units and managed structuring units (corporate finance) for over 10 years. From October 2016 to March 2017, he was a Member of the Board of Public Finance AG in Essen, a company specializing in local government finance and local government infrastructure solutions. Since 2015, Mr Zenke has also been a Managing Partner of the Réseau Group, a consultant network, and also at Smart Grid Solution GmbH in Frankfurt since 2016.

From January 2011 until April 2013, he held the position of Speaker of the Management Board of KFW IPEX-Bank GmbH in Frankfurt, the export and project finance arm of the KfW banking group. In the 14 years prior to that, Mr Zenke successfully held various executive roles at the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg.

As Executive Vice President Europe, he was responsible for the entire European corporate banking business outside of Baden-Württemberg as well as the Corporate Finance division, including Syndication, Acquisition Finance, Project Finance and Lease Refinancing. During this time, he provided guidance and support for the acquisition and integration of four banks and was responsible for the development of a European network of operations in nine countries. Harald Zenke began his career at Dresdner Bank AG and Citibank AG.

Mr Zenke holds a degree in economics from the University of Bonn.

Prof. Dr. Christoph Eipper
Environmental Risk Assessment

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Christoph Eipper is the managing director of Envi Experts GmbH. Since 1993, Christoph lectures in environmental risk assessment at the Universities of Trier and Würzburg. In 2010, he was awarded as Honorary Professor at the University of Würzburg at the Department of Geography and is responsible for Environmental Risk Assessment.

Christoph is the CEO of the environmental consulting company Envi Experts with headquarters in Nuremberg.

Christoph holds a European accreditation as environmental verifier and is an official expert for handling of substances hazardous to water (accredited by the Federal State of Bavaria) as well as an expert for Industrial Environmental Risks (accredited by the Nuremberg Chamber of Commerce).

Christoph Eipper developed technical skills in the area of Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) site assessments and has extensive knowledge in the technical, legal and financial aspects of environmental risk audits. He is also specialized in environmental compliance and liability audits.

Christoph carried out environmental audits, environmental liability audits, risk assessments, environmental due diligence and measures for risk minimization in over 30 different industrial sectors and on more than 800 sites.

His numerous publications and lectures deal with environmental risk analysis and risk management in the insurance and finance sector as well as environmental due diligence in the transaction process (M&A).

Walter K. Englert
Energy, Mining, Infrastructure & Africa

Projects (energy, mining, infrastructure), Promotion of Foreign Direct Investments, Sourcing of Funding & Financing, Africa, MENA

Walter Englert focused all his long career on business development activities in Africa and Middle East, before venturing recently also into the activity of sourcing of funding for projects in energy, mining and medical.

Born in 1965 in Würzburg, Lower Franconia, he graduated at the University of Würzburg in Economic Geography, Geology and Politics. Already before and during his studies, he lived and worked in Namibia, Botswana as well as for several years in Tunisia, allowing him to get acquainted with these parts of the world, its societies and economies.

Funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the Universities of Erlangen/Bamberg), Walter Englert expanded his studies and research activities on Foreign Direct Investment and its impact on the economies of the Grand Maghreb.

At Afrika-Verein (German-African Business Association), besides being for more than ten years the Deputy Managing Director, he successively built up and managed the Divisions „North Africa“, „West Africa“ and „Energy & Mining“. Having traveled more than 300 times to Africa during these 17 years (1997-2014), he has gathered an outstanding knowledge on African business, and built up an extensive network of premium contacts.

Since 2014, he’s Managing Partner of E&P Focus Africa Consulting GmbH, a leading consultancy boutique based in Hamburg. The company is focussing on supporting business and project developing activities of German and International companies in Africa, but also Middle East, mainly in the fields of energy, mining, ports, healthcare and general trading.

Moreover, he’s engaged in a number of activities alike his Advisory Board Membership in the DAFG (German-Arab Friendship Association, Berlin), as well as Vice President of the German-Tunisian Friendship Association (DTG).

Dr. Jens Peter Breitengross
Africa Specialist

Dr. Jens Peter Breitengross is the Honorary Consul for Kenya in 5 North German states. Fostering the vision of a vivid African-German partnership, he offers advisory services for private companies and individual projects as well as supports organizations in their general business matters in Africa. 

 

Graduating from the University of Hamburg, Mr. Breitengross accomplished supreme degrees in German linguistics, geography and economic science. Further, his study about the potential of hydropower in the Zaire River System, Congo, earned him a Ph.D. in natural science.

 

His focus on Africa continued in the German Institute of African Studies, where he supported NGOs in the area of research and development, carrying out feasibility studies and research work, while contributing to German Government aid projects from 1971 – 1975.

 

The importance of a strong Africa along with the significance of a close partnership with Germany to shape a common and prosper future was very clear to Mr. Breitengross early on. Since 1988, he consequently operated in leading positions supporting multiple German corporations that are specially dedicated to support this vision.

 

His strong commitment towards fostering development of viable private African business in ACP countries increasingly gained momentum and guided him to CDE Brussels, a joint organization of ACP countries and the EU, where he filled director board seat for 8 years. Being simultaneously a board member of the German Africa Association since 1980, he quickly ascended to Vice President in 1996 and further to President in 2007, to finally remain Honorary President.

Richard Leather
International Trade, Investment & Government

Richard Leather is the Managing Director of The Møller Institute at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge. In this role he leads a team developing executive and organisational development programmes for senior global leaders from Academia, Industry, Government and Civil Society.

The Møller Institute was established following a grant from the A.P Møller Foundation and was opened by was opened by Her Majesty Queen Ingrid of Denmark in 1992.

Prior to taking up his current role, Mr Leather served as a senior commercial diplomat and was posted as Australia’s Consul General in Frankfurt, Germany from 2016-19. During this time, he also served as Australia’s chief trade and investment representative to the EU where he engaged extensively with major European companies across the health, corporate finance and infrastructure sectors.

From 2012-16 he held a similar role as Australia’s chief trade and investment commissioner to the USA and Canada where he worked with leading corporations and investors in the infrastructure, energy, bioscience and high-growth information technology sectors.

Prior to taking up these diplomatic postings, he enjoyed an extensive career in consulting and financial services where he was an executive director and member of the Board of Directors at Gresham Partners Capital, and prior to this, head of investor relations and external affairs for the Gresham Partners Group in Sydney, Australia.

Mr Leather splits his time between Cambridge and his family home in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Prior to taking up these Diplomatic postings, Mr. Leather was a senior executive at prominent Australian Merchant Bank, Gresham Partners and a Member of the Board of Directors at Gresham Partners Capital. In these roles he engaged closely with Institutional investors, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds in Australia, Singapore, Honk Kong, the GCC and the USA raising capital and developing alternative asset investment vehicles as well as for a range of property debt products.

Ed Steffelin
Real Estate & Finance

Mr. Steffelin has over 25 years of investment experience in structured products, alternative assets and real estate.  He currently serves as SVP of George Smith Partners advising real estate sponsors on debt and equity capital and serves as a cofounder of two start up real estate companies, STAC Capital and Balcara Group.   STAC Capital finances model homes and Balcara Group creates single family rental communities.

From 2009 until late 2017, he was EVP of Capital Markets at Walton International Group where he oversaw a New York based analyst team. While at Walton, Mr. Steffelin was instrumental in building up their institutional relationships.   During his tenure, he formed a distressed vacant developed lot fund, structured a long-term land investment vehicle with a family office and created a private equity firm focused on the residential real estate space, RAM Real Estate Capital.

In 2008 and 2009 Mr. Steffelin was a Managing Director at ICP Capital where he was responsible for winding down several structured finance vehicles and purchasing distressed mortgage securities.

Mr. Steffelin joined GSC Group to manage the Eliot Bridge hedge fund in 2005 and became a Senior Managing Director and part of the firm’s Operating Committee.   At GSC Group, he managed Eliot Bridge, a long short credit fund, and ultimately created and managed a distressed mortgage fund, Pendulum.   He was also involved in GSC Capital Corporation, which he took through bankruptcy during the financial crisis as the CEO of the alternative mortgage REIT.

Prior to GSC, he worked at TCW Group, Inc. as a portfolio manager in the mortgage backed securities group.   Prior to TCW, he was a Principal at Allianz Risk Transfer AG. During his three years at Allianz, Mr. Steffelin was focused on leveraged credit positions and CDO equity. During the two years prior, he worked at XL Financial Solutions in Hamilton, Bermuda. Mr. Steffelin focused on structured products and developed an equity defeasance product for cross border leveraged leases and underwrote equity tranches on corporate synthetic CDOs.

From 1998 to 2000 he worked as a Vice President at CGA Investment Management. At CGA Investment Management, Mr. Steffelin helped structure and execute the first two CMBS transactions created in Canada. Mr. Steffelin also has held positions at CapMAC and the New York Stock Exchange.

Dr. Tilman Hickl
Global Real Estate Institutional

Dr. oec HSG Tilman Hickl, born in1966, is managing partner of H2i Assetmanagement, a real estate asset management company where he heads the project structuring alongside the customer relationship management and distribution. Until 2019, Tilman was as Head of UBS Global Real Estate-Europe responsible for the management and development of UBS’s European real estate platform with real estate assets of over EUR 7 billion of NAV. Before joining UBS in 2006, he was Managing Director of Pramerica Kapitalanlagegesellschaft (now PGIM) and also Head of Distribution for the open and closed-end real estate funds at Pramerica Financial. He was previously a senior manager at Ernst & Young Real Estate, fund manager at Oppenheim and began his professional career at Deutsche Bank, where he ultimately was sales manager north-east for real estate financing.
 
Tilman’s 26 years of real estate experience range from real estate financing and consulting to investment and asset management. Tilman Hickl studied economics at the University of St. Gallen and the Universidad de Complutense in Madrid and holds a doctorate in economics from the University of St. Gallen.

Rick Gambetta
Renewable Energy & Finance

Rick Gambetta is the managing Director of Hexagon Finance and Advisory Limited and the Founder and Partner of GreenCrowd Partnership LLP. He has over 20 years of senior level structured financing and banking experience during which he structured Europe’s first listed solar securitisation in 2012 (24 year Bond) and the first distributed generation residential solar securitisation (20-year Green Loan) outside the US to satisfy Climate Bonds Certification Standards. He advises renewable energy and real estate companies on how to raise the right capital to suit their financing requirements.