Press Release

In line with its development strategy, Gulf Capital, one of the largest private equity firms in the Middle East, has just announced the appointment of Chris Foll as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Known for executing M&A transactions, divestments and IPOs, coupled with a strong focus on hands-on operational roles, Chris Foll brings a unique range of skills and experience to the position, encompassing finance, operations and management.

“With close to thirty years of experience in senior finance roles across diverse sectors and geographies, I am confident Chris’s expertise will immensely contribute to our company’s continued growth and expansion at a time when the Firm stands ready to deploy one of the most successful funds in the industry in the region,” commented Dr. Karim El Solh, Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Capital.

Chris Foll has held a number of senior management positions in public companies within the telecommunications, agricultural, cement and mining sectors across Southern Africa, Australia, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Hong Kong.  His experience included positions at Hutchison Telecommunications, Queensland Cement Company (a subsidiary of Holcim), QNI, a listed nickel and cobalt producer and Adelaide Brighton Group, Australia’s largest cement producer.
 
For the past nine years he has held leadership positions in the telecom sector, first as CFO of Hutchison Essar in India where he was responsible for finance and strategic business development.  The business grew from US$ 200m to US$ 3bn during his six-year tenure and was sold in 2007 for $10.7 billion to the Vodafone Group. He was then appointed COO of Hutchison Telecom Vietnam in charge of day to day operations and then CFO of Hutchison Telecommunications International, where he oversaw the spin-off of the Hong Kong/Macau operation and subsequent listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

A Chartered Accountant, Chris grew from pure financial accounting roles to establishing a proven track record in executing M&A transactions, divestments and IPOs, coupled with a strong focus on hands-on operational roles. He also brings strong cash and treasury management experience, with a very good understanding and experience in managing financial reporting across multiple divisional companies. This is underpinned by strong accounting/financial skills and includes significant balance sheet management and P&L accountability. He also brings excellent investor relations skills with good experience in capital markets, having led significant fundraising efforts and primary and secondary listings on some of the world’s largest exchanges.

Commenting on his appointment, Chris Foll says: “Gulf Capital is one of the leading alternative asset managers in the region, and I am delighted to work with such an exceptional team to ensure that we capitalize on the opportunities and deliver strong results to our shareholders, investors and portfolio companies.”