As founding partner of Nogal, Mr. Vargas has led several important transactions, including among others an advisory to Manuelita, Pantaleon and Unialco in the creation of a JV and the financial structuring of sugar and alcohol "green field" in Brazil; an advisory to CVCI-Citigroup in the valuation and sale of its 29.5% stake in Cartones América; an advisory to Valores Bavaria in the sale of Vikingos to Casa Luker; the sale of Frontino Gold Mines to Grancolombia Gold; the acquisition of Tarjetas Plasticar from Grupo Carvajal by the French conglomerate SAFRAN.

Before founding Nogal in 2001, Mr. Vargas was a managing director with ING Barings responsible for the corporate and investment bank in Colombia. Mr. Vargas joined Baring Securities in 1994 as Head of the Andean Pact Region and was subsequently appointed as President and CEO for the merged operations of Barings and ING Colombia on January 1997. Mr. Vargas has an extensive experience in investment banking in Colombia and Latin America. He has participated in M&A transactions for Uniban, Bancolombia-BIC, Grupo Mayagüez, Central de Mezclas and Sanford Group among others.

Before joining ING Barings, Mr. Vargas acted as founding CEO of Proexport Colombia, the nation's export promotion agency; CEO of Fiducoldex a local trust bank and Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Trade.

Previously he was Head of the External Financing and Foreign Reserves Department at the Colombian Central Bank (Banco de la República). In this position Mr. Vargas was responsible for managing the portfolio of Colombia's foreign reserves of arround USD$ 5 bn.

Mr. Vargas obtained his MBA from Columbia University and has an Economics BA and MS candidate from Universidad de Los Andes, in Bogotá, Colombia

Mr. Kassin has been in the Investment Committee of Latin American Communications Partners since the Fund's inception. He became a Managing Director of the Fund in 2002 and represents LACP as a member of several boards of directors.

Prior to LACP, Mr. Kassin was the Principal and Managing Director of Colombia-based Compañía General De Inversiones (CGI), where he acted as the exclusive agent for Philip Brothers (Phibro Inc.) in Colombia from 1981 through 1996. In 1983 Phibro acquired Salomon Brothers and Mr. Kassin also headed that company's investment banking operations in Colombia until Citigroup acquired the business in 1999.

During that time, he initiated more than $USD 2.6 billion worth of investment banking transactions, mainly in the energy and financial services sectors, as well as advising the government of Colombia in several privatization projects. His work included M&A advisory, including (i) Privatization of coal company Carbocol (the nation's joint venture with Exxon), (ii) advising Royal Dutch Shell in the sale of its Hocol and Homcol subsidiaries in Colombia, (iii) advising Spain-based BBVA on its acquisition of Banco Ganadero and its expansion strategy in Colombia and Peru as well as several bond offerings, including (i) a US$240 million offering for TransCanada Pipelines BP for development of its Gasoducto de Occidente, (ii) a US$150 million offering for Comunicación Celular S.A. and (iii) a US$250 million offering for the Colombian government.

As exclusive marketing agent for Carbocol in the United States and the United Kingdom, Mr. Kassin arranged coal sales with values exceeding a quarter of a billion dollars.

Mr. Kassin holds a Bachelor of Science in International Finance from American University in Washington D.C.

Project Directors

Ana María Giraldo
Senior Director

As Project Director for Nogal, Mrs. Giraldo has coordinated several projects such as the structuring of M&A deals within the following sectors: building materials, mobile communication , medical supplies and consumer goods among others. She has also participated in the capital structure and indebtedness capacity analysis for various types of companies. In addition she has participated in advisories to important enterprise groups like Organizacion Corona, Grupo Mundial, and other enterprise groups in the Andean Region.

Prior to joining Nogal Ms Giraldo was Financial Analyst in Incorbank –Investment Bankers, where she was responsible for activities such as financial valuation, corporate clients relationships and marketing activities. Some of the advisories include clients like Federacion Nacional de Arroceros, Banco de Bogotá, Banco de Occidente, Instituto de Seguros Sociales, Almacenar and other companies within industries such as agro industrials, ports, minerals, services restaurants) among others. She stands out for her participation in the valuation and selling of shareholdings in local utilities and telecommunication companies. She was also involved in the valuation and analysis of governmental concessions.

Mrs. Giraldo has a degree in Business Administration from Politecnico Grancolombiano, Bogotá – Colombia. She has also a diploma on postgraduated studies in Corporate Finance from Colegio de Estudios Superiores de Administración – CESA, Bogotá – Colombia.

Prior to joining Nogal Ms. Kasha was President and General Manager of Parex Resources Colombia Sucursal Ltda., where she was responsible for the establishment and management of the Colombian branch operations of a publicly traded multinational Exploration & Production company with head office in Calgary, Canada. Ms. Kasha was responsible for positioning the company in the industry in front of state ministries and agencies, non-government organizations, communities, neighboring operators and other stakeholder groups in order to guaranty the viability and sustainability of the company's operations in Colombia. In 2007 she was part of the lead team taking the parent company from a private entity to a public company trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange through an IPO. In 2004, she coordinated the initial positioning of the company in Argentina through a corporate transaction, and established the company´s operations in that country.

Before joining Parex Resources, Ms. Kasha worked with several public and private companies in the Canadian oil & gas industry, providing consulting services for the negotiation and finalization of acquisitions and divestitures of assets and corporate entities, ongoing management and administration of petroleum assets, and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.

Ms. Kasha has a degree in Business Administration with a specialization in Petroleum Land Management from the University of Calgary – Canada and a Double MBA Degree with a specialization in Entrepreneurship from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago de Chile, and the Institut Superieur des Etudes (isa) HEC School of Management in Paris – France.

Oscar Alfredo Torres
Project Director

Prior to joining Nogal in 2011, Mr. Torres was part of Criteria Caixa Corp, in the area in charge of monitoring the company's investments in international banking and the analysis of new investment opportunities.

Between January 2007 and March 2009, Mr. Torres was part of BBVA Horizonte Pensiones y Cesantias, where from August 2007 he served as Risk Management Director being a permanent member of the Risk and Investment Committee. At BBVA Horizonte Mr. Torres participated in the analysis and selection of multiple investments for the managed funds in sectors such as infrastructure, energy, Oil & Gas, industry and financial services. In addition he was part of several Committees of Surveillance in different Private Equity Funds which had participation BBVA Horizonte.

Previously, Mr. Torres had been Risk Management Director Gesvalores SA Comisionista de Bolsa, where he was in charge for the area responsible for managing the financial risks affecting resources of the company and its customers.

Mr. Torres is an Economist of the Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá - Colombia. In addition, he is an MBA from ESADE Business School, Barcelona - Spain.