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Speaker
George Kypraios
CEO
Yefira Group
As CEO of Yefira Group, my colleagues and I guide the entrepreneurs we advise to achieve their growth objectives through both organic and inorganic means. We focus on curating and delivering mergers & acquisitions, asset finance as well as strategic business development and regional integration. My focus is global with Singapore as my base.
I am a passionate entrepreneur who strongly believes that strong relationships, integrity, and rolling up your sleeves in the pursuit of your clients' success are the foundations for one's own development and success.
I have been guided in my life by the book, "Meetings with Remarkable Men" by G.I. Gurdjieff, which my father introduced me to as a child. Since then, I have always been interested in meeting with remarkable people, listening and learning from them about their ideas, their passions, their business plans and dreams.
My passion for business, meeting people and growing relationships took me from Australia to New York, Greece and Singapore, working in various international companies such as PwC, Macquarie Bank, Phillips Fox (now DLA Piper) and ICON Investments, bridging clients to opportunities, investors and strategic partners globally.
Relentless in terms of client focus, I am keenly aware that the right results require a deep understanding of the industries in which my colleagues and I operate and as such, I invest a great deal of time engaging with a broad range of industry participants, understanding their practices and looking for opportunities to bring parties together where there is strong chemistry and synergy. As part of this, I maintain close links with leading lawyers, accountants, valuers and other professionals, working in a coordinated manner to deliver the optimal results.
My professional journey and expertise have helped me understand different cultures and provided me with the ability to listen, synthesise and bring ideas and people to the table.
Experience
Chief Executive Officer
Yefira Group
May 2014 - Present, Singapore, London & Cyprus
Leadership role of Yefira Group, a corporate finance and growth advisory boutique, headquartered in Singapore with operations in London and Cyprus.
Leader of transaction and relationship teams in the shipping, offshore oil and gas, renewables, agritech, marketing services as we as digital and technology sectors.
Senior Director-Asia
ICON Capital Corp
January 2011 - May 2014, Singapore
Established ICON Capital's Representative Office in Singapore and responsible for originating over $500m of investment opportunities in the business critical equipment space for the asset manager. Developed deep relationships with operators of marine, mining and other equipment as well as service providers to the logistics, commodity and offshore, oil and gas sectors.
Chief Executive Officer
Gaterland Ltd
2005 - 2010, Athens, Greece
Developed M&A practice in the communications sector from scratch, concluding a number of cross border transactions as vendor adviser including the iconic Hawker Britton transaction in Australia. Concurrently, executed over $1b in film finance transactions as well as over $150m in vessel sale and lease back transactions.
Associate Director
Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc
2000 - 2004, New York
Led the equity raising function for domestic and cross border US leasing transactions for Macquarie Capital which was one of the leading arranger in the segment till the market niche
Director-Business Development, Services Industry Group
PwC
1998 - 2000, Australia
Led the industry focussed cross line of service focus in the transport, government, engineering, health and other related sectors in Australia.
Phillips Fox
1994-1998
Legal training as well as business development function in the Melbourne office of Phillip Fox.
Education
Completed Singapore Institute of Directors Listed Entity Directors Course (Assessment date 29 September 2020)
University of Melbourne - Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) (1994)
St Michael's Grammar School Melbourne