Our Team
Senior Partners
Igor is a Partner at Hunnewell. His career spans investment banking, management consulting, private equity and corporate management, working in numerous sectors and jurisdictions.
A citizen of Russia and the US, he started his career at McKinsey & Company in Amsterdam, before moving into corporate finance at Bankers Trust and Bank of America in New York, working as an M&A advisor on a number of US$100m+ transactions. After several years in private equity, he became CEO of a US$150m metals-mining enterprise in Georgia, and then CEO of a US$1bn speciality metals company in Russia, implementing successful turnarounds at both businesses.
Since 2011 he has worked alongside Hunnewell’s other Partners, advising UHNW clients, managing asset recovery services, and acquiring and optimising a portfolio of assets in a variety of jurisdictions.
With decades of private equity and asset management experience, Irakli is a Partner at Hunnewell and operates principally out of the firm’s office in Tbilisi, working closely with its investments in Georgia, where he sits on several corporate boards.
Previously, he was CEO of Caucasus Advisors, manager of the US$100 million Caucasus Fund. He also served as director of AEGIS, manager of Commonwealth Property Investors, a premier US-Russian real estate investment company. His investors included AT&T Pension Trust and Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).
A US citizen and native of Georgia, Irakli started his career at McKinsey & Company, where he worked in the US, Western and Eastern Europe including Russia, chiefly on assignments in the telecommunications and technology sectors. He has authored three books on general management and corporate finance.
Ben is a Partner based at Hunnewell’s London office, helping oversee the firm’s investments and providing managerial and legal assistance. He also heads up Hunnewell’s litigation finance business. A structured finance lawyer by background, he has overseen more than 50 litigation cases in multiple jurisdictions, including some of the highest profile cases in the UK High Court in recent years.
In the late-2000s Ben took over the running of a law firm in Spain and launched a property accreditation company in conjunction with brand names including Santander, Moneycorp and Allsop auction house.
He qualified and spent several years with Allen & Overy at their London and Tokyo offices before moving to Weil Gotshal & Manges, advising on high profile structured finance transactions.
Executive Team
Lana Berulava joined Hunnewell Partners Georgia in 2019 and oversees the fund’s investments in the manufacturing sector – HeidelbergCement Georgia and Rustavi Steel. Lana was elected as a member of the supervisory board of Rustavi Steel in December 2020.
Lana has more than 15 years of experience in investment management. Prior to joining Hunnewell Partners, she was an Associate Director at the largest private equity fund in Georgia for several years, and before that managed a diverse investment portfolio for family offices in Georgia and the UK in the capacity of CFO.
Lana holds an MBA from London Business School and a BBA in Management and Finance from ESM Tbilisi.
David Vepkhvadze has more than 25 years of investment management experience.
David has supervised high profile investments in Georgia in both the manufacturing and real estate sectors, including a partnership project with cement market leader, HeidelbergCement, and the management turnaround of Rustavi Metallurgical Plant.
Having started his career at an auditing company which was the local partner of Coopers & Lybrand, David has participated in the financial auditing of Georgian banks and other regulated companies. He has also acted as a business consultant across a range of projects in multiple industries.
David holds an EMBA from IEDC-Bled School of Management, Bled, Slovenia.
Matt is the General Counsel of Hunnewell Partners and sits on the Supervisory Board of Rustavi Steel.
Prior to joining Hunnewell Partners in London, Matt worked extensively in Eastern Europe and the CIS over many years as a corporate lawyer at international law firms including CMS Cameron McKenna. He advised clients on general corporate and commercial matters and in particular joint ventures and M&A transactions in the oil and gas, banking, real estate, transportation and retail sectors.
He has lived in Ukraine, Georgia and Russia and is a fluent Russian and Italian speaker.
Maka Khmaladze has worked for more than 15 years in financial roles.
Maka is currently Hunnewell Partners Georgia’s Finance Director with particular involvement in its real estate division.
For several years, Maka was responsible for the project management of the US Embassy Residential Development Project, the first gated community of its kind in Georgia. She also spent two years as a business consultant for the CERMA & ECG Centre for Enterprise Restructuring and Management Assistance, Tbilisi, Georgia.
Diana Miftakhova joined Hunnewell Partners’ London office in 2011 and has worked on various international projects from both the analytical and structuring side. Diana is currently responsible for financial reporting and cash management to the international directors and partners.
Previously, Diana worked for several years at KPMG, specialising in auditing oil and gas sector companies.
Diana holds an MSc in Finance from Barcelona GSE and also a BSc in Economics and BSc in Business Administration.