The Team

“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

African Proverb

The Pallinghurst Group have a unique, experienced senior management team with a multifaceted skillset including the development of mining companies, private equity as well as finance and corporate development.

We have a proven track record and an in-depth industry knowledge of assets, companies, people and trends. As a team, we pride ourselves on being recognised for our strategic insight and vision, decades of value creation, being highly regarded by international investors, and our trademark of pioneering innovative and sustainable transactions.

Since our formation over 15 years ago, The Pallinghurst Group’s ethos has been built on integrity, sustainability, teamwork and leadership. Through those four pillars, The Pallinghurst Group is focused on providing its investors with superior and sustainable returns.

Senior management consists of three Executives, namely Arne H. Frandsen and Andrew Willis, the Managing Partners, and Chris Powell, Partner and Chief Financial Officer. The Partners provide The Pallinghurst Group with leadership and strategic guidance as well as hands-on management and execution oversight. As a team, the Partners have complementary skills and experience providing a unique skillset which in turn unlocks and maximises the potential of its portfolio companies. Through a unique hands-on approach, the Pallinghurst Team provides management and oversight which in turn maximises value for the benefit of all our stakeholders.

The Partners are supported by an experienced team of the highest calibre professionals. The complementary skills of the professional individuals of the Pallinghurst Team, provides a complete knowledge base which enables us to do our asset evaluations, deal execution as well as ongoing management in house. In addition to its core in-house team, Pallinghurst has formed an Independent Advisory Committee comprising a breadth of highly experienced senior mining professionals and financial managers. Pallinghurst can call upon these specialists where required as it develops its investments.

Headquartered in London with additional offices in Canada, Guernsey and Australia.

Senior Management

Arne H. Frandsen

Co-Chief Executive

Having studied Law in Europe, Africa and Asia, Arne Frandsen holds a Masters in Law. Arne has over ten years’ of investment banking experience with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, providing strategic advice and structuring mergers and acquisitions as well as corporate finance transactions for clients in 30 different countries, raising in excess of US$20 billion of capital.

Andrew Willis

Co-Chief Executive

Andrew Willis has over 15 years’ experience in international finance, structuring and private equity. He started his professional career as an accountant in New Zealand and after moving to Europe spent three years with pan-European private equity investment manager Candover Investments.

Chris Powell

Chief Financial Officer

Chris Powell has more than 20 years of experience in accounting, resource finance, investment management and private equity. He has worked for a number of leading multinational companies, active in various sectors.

Senior Advisors

Dr. Rod Baxter

Senior Advisor & Chairman of Pallinghurst Australia

Dr. Baxter is an Australian and South African citizen with more than 30 years’ experience as a natural resources professional and senior business executive. Whilst his main focus has been on the mining and processing sectors, he has also been active in other industries including construction, engineering and infrastructure development.

Dr. Lumkile Mondi

Senior Advisor & Director of Sedibelo Platinum

Dr. Lumkile Mondi
Senior Advisor & Director of Sedibelo Platinum

Dr. Mondi has more than 30 years or experience as a Chief Economist, scholar and senior business executive. Whilst his main focus has been on economics, he also has more than two decades of experience as an executive and non-executive director of natural resources companies, as well as renewable energy and infrastructure companies. As an independent director, he has specific expertise of ESG and the implementation of best standard governance.

For more than a decade, Lumkile was the Chief Economist for Africa’s leading development finance institution. In this role, he was responsible for providing development finance throughout Africa. In achieving this goal, Dr. Mondi led a team of researchers, structured and project financers and international agencies. In addition, his responsibilities included overseeing the analyses of the macro and micro economic environment (business, economic, industry and policy) both domestically and internationally.

Lumkile holds a BCom in Economics and Law and a BCom (Hons) in Economics from University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. He also earned a MA in Economics from Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, USA. Dr Mondi was also awarded a PhD in Economics from University of the Witwatersrand.

His significant experience as a senior professional includes executive and non-executive roles for companies within the natural resources and renewable energy sectors; both for listed as well as unlisted entities in Europe and Africa. His expertise in renewal energy infrastructure includes different renewable asset classes including wind and solar.

Lumkile served on the Economic Advisory Panel for two South African Presidents, providing input to the country’s economic policy. As a fellow of the African Leadership Initiative (an Aspen Institute Initiative), he is engaged in influencing and advising leaders of many developing countries in tackling poverty, inequality, and unemployment, in a pursuit of a more prosperous and equitable future.

As a consequence of this prominent role, Dr. Mondi has a leadership profile, particularly within Africa, where he writes, presents and comments on radio, print media and television on specific economic matters. He has presented and participated in various conferences worldwide, including for the UN, World Bank, BNDES and OECD.

Lumkile is a Senior Advisor to the Pallinghurst Partnership and a member of the Group’s Senior Advisory Panel. In addition, he serves as a director for a number of the Pallinghurst Group’s investments.

Dr. Jürgen Köhler

Senior Advisor & Director of Nouveau Monde Graphite

Dr. Köhler has more than 30 years of experience as a leading chemical engineer and senior executive. He has designed, built and operated a number of specialty chemical plants. In addition, he has a prominent career as a senior executive, including having been the CEO for one of the world’s leading fine chemicals and graphite companies.

Jürgen Köhler
Senior Advisor & Director of Nouveau Monde Graphite

Jürgen spent more than 10 years studying and undertaking research in chemical engineering, predominantly at the Technical University of Munich (“TUM”), Germany as well as at the Carnegie-Mellon-University Pittsburgh and at the University of Illinois, both in the U.S. His research focused on energy efficiency and design of thermal separation processes. He was awarded the German Engineering Society’s (VDI) Prize for an outstanding Diploma thesis. Following his extensive research activities, he received his doctorate in Chemical Engineering with “summa cum laude” producing the best Ph.D. thesis in the Engineering Faculty at TUM.

Following his academic career, Dr. Köhler worked six years as a Process Engineer and Project Manager for Hoechst AG, in Frankfurt. He subsequently moved to the US, where, in Texas, he worked for the Fortune 500 global technology and specialty materials company Celanese Corp. Jürgen had a number of roles within the company, including Head of global manufacturing and technology of Acrylic acid and Derivatives, overseeing 14 production units at four locations in the US, Mexico and Germany.

In 2002, Dr. Köhler joined the leading global specialist graphite producer SGL Carbon in Wiesbaden, Germany. In 2014 Dr. Köhler was appointed CEO of SGL Carbon and its 5,000 employees working at over 30 different production locations globally. For over five years, he was the CEO for the business, focussing on operational efficiency as well as top line growth, through an active interaction with the company’s end costumers. SGL Carbon is one of the world's leading manufacturers of carbon products. The company’s portfolio ranges from carbon and graphite materials and solutions to carbon fibres and composites.

Jürgen is a Senior Advisor to the Pallinghurst Partnership. In addition, he serves as a director for the NYSE listed Nouveau Monde Graphite as well as advising the Nemaska Lithium project teams.

George Nakos

Senior Advisor

Mr. Nakos acts as senior advisor to The Pallinghurst Group. He is Joint-CEO of Grey Matter financial advisory services. For almost a decade, George has advised The Pallinghurst Group on a number of key M&A transactions as well as capital raisings.

Garth Higgo

Senior Advisor

Mr. Higgo is an Australian based natural resources executive with 25 years of experience as a natural resources professional and senior business executive. Garth is a civil engineer and qualified accountant. He has held senior executive positions with some of the world’s biggest mining corporations.

Julien Naginski

Senior Legal Counsel and Advisor

Julien Naginski is senior external legal counsel at Pallinghurst. He is a partner at Chammas & Marcheteau in Paris and is admitted to the bar in Paris, New York and England & Wales, and is a member of the board of the World Association of Mining Lawyers.

Key Employees

Dr. Alex Middleton

Dr. Alex Middleton is Head of Pallinghurst Canada and spearheads the Group’s geological analysis. Alex is British but based in Montreal, Canada, and earned a PhD with a focus on geochemistry as well as natural resource research and development from the University of Queensland, Australia.

Alice Coslett

Alice Coslett is Group Head of HR and Operations and joined The Pallinghurst Group in 2011. For over a decade, Alice has been instrumental in implementing and refining operations to ensure that the Group functions efficiently and effectively.

Anthony Payne

Anthony Payne is the Group Head of Compliance and oversees regulatory compliance throughout The Pallinghurst Group, along with ensuring the group adheres to positive ESG practices and global tax regimes.

Carissa Mosser O'Neill

Carissa Mosser O’Neill is the Business Manager for the Channel Islands and Australia and oversees the smooth operations of both office locations as well as providing high-level secretarial, administrative and information management support to Andrew Willis and the wider team.

Edmund Zimmer

Edmund Zimmer joined Pallinghurst as a Financial Accountant and provides financial reporting and modelling support for various entities across the Group. Edmund is fully exam-qualified through the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and has extensive financial reporting experience within the light industrial sector.

Eve James

Eve James is the Business Manager for the UK and Canada and joined The Pallinghurst Group in 2018 providing varied operational support to the global team, including the core investment and compliance teams.

Mike Reid

Mike Reid joined the Pallinghurst Group as an Associate within the Investment team. Mike provides vital expertise to the team identifying new investment’s, bringing multiple disciplines to Pallinghurst’s due diligence team, including financial controls, valuation techniques as well as financial modelling for both mining and processing activities.

Richard Dudley

Richard Dudley is the Group Head of Corporate Investments, having joined Pallinghurst in 2016, and has been a key part of the corporate finance team ever since. He has worked on several transactions across the group, which include the successful Pallinghurst Resources takeover of Gemfields, and restructurings within Pallinghurst’s platinum group metals portfolio.

Sean Thijsse

Sean Thijsse is the Group Head of Corporate Finance and joined Pallinghurst in 2011. He has been an integral part of Pallinghurst’s corporate finance team for over a decade. Specifically, he headed the execution of Pallinghurst’s Steel Making Materials strategy which resulted in building the Tshipi manganese mine into the single largest manganese mine in South Africa and the top five in the world.

Spiro Pippos

Spiro Pippos is the Group Head of Mining and Engineering and oversees our mine management upstream effort. Spiro is Australian and holds an MBA from London Business School. In addition, he earned a Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) with honours as well as a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) from University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

Timene Stemmet

Timene Stemmet is the Global Head of Accounting, and having joined Pallinghurst in 2009, has been managing the accounting needs of the Group’s offices across the globe ever since. Having worked internationally and within a variety of sectors including financial services, media and hospitality prior to joining Pallinghurst, Timene brings diverse accounting expertise to the Group.

Ulandi Langhein

Ulandi Langhein is a Business and ESG Analyst and has over 30 years of experience in various disciplines such as Business, Financial and Project Management as well as Operating Excellence and Community engagement.