Rudi Schembri

Banking Associate Director
UK / Private Equity
 

Rudi Schembri joined 3i’s Banking Team in June 2015 and has since worked on banking for several acquisitions and portfolio companies including Action, ATESTEO, Evernex, Formel D, GEKA, Hans Anders, Havea, Luqom, MPM and Scandlines.

Before joining 3i Private Equity, Rudi spent 4 years in Deutsche Bank’s Leveraged Debt Capital Markets Team, where he worked across both the term loan and high yield bond products. Prior to this, Rudi spent 5 years at UBS in the Leveraged Finance Team and the UK Investment Banking Team. In addition, Rudi worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers’ consulting services for 1 year.

Rudi holds an MSc Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics and is a Certified Public Accountant. He also holds a Bachelor of Accountancy (Honours) and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Malta, both with first class honours.

Sebastian Schwengber

Associate Director
UK / Infrastructure
 

Sebastian is an Associate Director in 3i's Infrastructure team in London and joined in 2017. He is responsible for the strategic asset management of portfolio companies in the UK and continental Europe. In this role, Sebastian works closely with management teams on strategy and performance improvement initiatives. Sebastian's role also involves the origination, evaluation and execution of deals, with a particular focus on the energy and utility sectors.

Sebastian brings 10 years’ experience in strategy development, most recently from National Grid where he was a member of the Group & UK/EU Strategy team, and prior to that from Roland Berger, where he was a core member of the European Energy & Utilities team.

Sebastian holds an MBA from INSEAD, a MSc in Business Management from ESCP Europe and an engineering degree from Technical University Berlin.

Paras Shah

Associate
UK / Private Equity
 

Paras joined 3i in 2016 and is an Associate in the UK Private Equity team. He is focused on originating and executing Private Equity investments across a range of industry sectors, and has been involved in 3i's investments in MPM, Audley Travel, AESSEAL and Infinis.

Prior to joining 3i, Paras previously worked at MV Credit and UBS.

Paras holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Warwick.

Tim Short

Partner
UK / Infrastructure
 

Tim joined 3i in 2007, where his focus is on the origination, execution and debt financing of infrastructure investments.

His transaction experience includes Attero, Belfast City Airport, East Surrey Pipelines, Elenia, ESVAGT, Infinis, Oystercatcher, Scandlines, Tampnet, TCR and WIG.

Prior to joining 3i, he was at RBC Capital Markets, having started his career in the European financial restructuring group at Houlihan Lokey.

Tim has an MA and an MPhil in Economics from St John's College, Cambridge.

Jake Shuster

Senior Associate
North America / Private Equity
Healthcare, Industrial  

Jake joined 3i in 2019 as a member of its North American Private Equity team based in New York. Jake has since been involved in 3i’s investment in Q Holdings. 

Prior to joining 3i, Jake worked as an Associate at Golden Gate Capital, where he invested in the healthcare and industrial sectors. Prior to Golden Gate, Jake was a Senior Associate Consultant at Bain & Company, the management consulting firm, and Head of FP&A at Bowery Farming, a VC-backed start-up. 

Jake graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania.

Kevin Silverstein

Associate
North America / Private Equity
Industrial, Healthcare, Business & Technology Services  

Kevin joined 3i in 2020 as a member of its North American Private Equity team based in New York. Kevin has since been involved in 3i’s investments in Q Holding and WilsonHCG.

Prior to joining 3i, Kevin worked as a consultant at Strategy&, conducting commercial diligence, growth strategy, value creation, and post-merger integration engagements for private equity firms, portfolio companies, and corporations.

Kevin graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with an A.B. in English.

Bernardo Sottomayor

Co-Head of Economic Infrastructure, Europe
UK / Infrastructure
 

Bernardo became Co-Head of Economic Infrastructure, Europe in May 2021, alongside Scott. Bernardo joined 3i in 2015 as a Partner with responsibility for origination and execution of new investments across Europe, principally economic infrastructure businesses. 

Bernardo has 18 years of infrastructure investment experience and was most recently a Partner at Antin Infrastructure which manages funds investing in infrastructure opportunities across Europe.

Prior to Antin, Bernardo was Managing Director, Head of Acquisitions for Deutsche Bank’s European infrastructure fund. His prior experience was in utilities, as Head of M&A at Energias de Portugal, and in infrastructure advisory with UBS and Citigroup.

Bernardo holds an economics degree from the Nova School of Business and Economics in Lisbon, Portugal.

Giovanni Sparagna

Associate
France / Infrastructure
 

Giovanni joined 3i in January 2020 as an Associate in the Infrastructure team based in Paris. He is primarily responsible for the origination and execution of deals across the Economic Infrastructure and Projects space. He is currently involved in Ionisos.

Previously, he was an Associate in the M&A team at BNP Paribas in Paris. He originated and executed deals across several sectors in the EMEA region.

Giovanni graduated from HEC Paris and Bocconi Milan.

Michael Specht

Director
Germany / Private Equity
Business & Technology Services  

Michael joined 3i in 2015 and is a Director in the German Private Equity team. He was part of the deal team for the investment in Luqom Group, an online retailer of lighting products.

Prior to joining 3i, Michael worked at Warburg Pincus in Frankfurt and London, where he was involved in a number of private equity investments in Germany and Europe. Previously, he worked in the Transaction Advisory Services division of Ernst & Young and in consulting with Deloitte Consulting.

Michael holds a Master degree in Economics from Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

David Stephens

Director
UK / Private Equity
Industrial  

David is a Director based in London and is co-head of the UK PE team, leading its efforts in the industrial technology sector. 

David has worked on a number of 3i investments, including its acquisition of Sussex-based Aspen Pumps, the global market leader in condensate removal pumps; Oxfordshire-based Audley Travel, the leading provider of tailor-made travel; Ohio-based Q Holding, manufacturer of precision moulded rubber and silicone components for the auto and medical industries; and Wisconsin-headquartered Dynatect Manufacturing, Inc, manufacturer of critical components designed to protect and elongate equipment lifetime and promote worker safety.

Prior to joining 3i, David worked in investment banking at DC Advisory Partners, advising clients on European mid-market M&A.

Jim Stoner

Senior Counsel
UK / Infrastructure
 

Jim is a solicitor with almost twenty years’ experience in infrastructure and private equity investment and funds. He has worked as senior counsel in 3i’s Infrastructure Team since 2007, with responsibilities for legal risk management, legal and regulatory aspects of new investment, portfolio management, fund structuring, and equity and debt raising by 3i and its fund clients. Jim joined 3i in 1998, initially working with the UK investment business and subsequently for the wider 3i corporate group.

Jim qualified as a solicitor and worked at international private equity and M&A law firm Ashurst from 1993 to 1998.

Jamie Supple

Associate Director
UK / Private Equity
Business & Technology Services, Healthcare  

Jamie joined 3i in 2017 and is an Associate Director. He is focused on originating and executing Private Equity investments across a range of industry sectors, primarily within the UK.

Prior to joining 3i, Jamie was an Investment Manager at Duke Street, where he focused on the services and healthcare sectors. Prior to that, he worked in the investment banking team at Hawkpoint Partners in London advising on public and private transactions across a variety of sectors.

Jamie holds a BA in Economics from Durham University.

Jerin Thomas

Associate
North America / Private Equity
Healthcare, Business & Technology Services  

Jerin joined 3i in 2019 as a member of its North American Private Equity team based in New York. Since joining, Jerin has been involved in 3i’s investments in Cirtec Medical and JMJ Associates.

Prior to joining 3i, Jerin was a member of the Global Healthcare Group at Credit Suisse where he focused on advising clients on mergers & acquisitions, capital raising and other corporate activities.

Jerin graduated with Honors from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business with a B.S. in Finance and Economics and Minor in Psychology.

James Thompson

Associate Director
UK / Private Equity
 

James is an Associate Director in the UK Private Equity team. He is focused on originating and executing Private Equity investments across a range of industry sectors within the UK.

Prior to joining 3i in 2016, James worked as a consultant at Roland Berger and Deloitte.

James holds a MEng in Materials Science from the University of Oxford.

Simon Thompson

Chairman
Board of Directors
 

Non-Executive Director since April 2015 and appointed Chairman with effect from close of 2015 AGM. Chairman of Rio Tinto plc. Independent on appointment.

Previous experience

Until April 2017 Chairman of Tullow Oil plc. Formerly an executive director of Anglo American plc and chairman of the Tarmac Group. Nonexecutive director of AngloGold Ashanti Ltd, Newmont Mining Corporation and Sandvik AB. Senior Independent Director of Amec Foster Wheeler plc. Previous career in investment banking with N M Rothschild and S.G. Warburg.

Jo Thomson

Active Partnership Practice Director
UK / Private Equity
 

Jo Thomson leads the Active Partnership team. Her core responsibilities include the sharing of best practice across our investors as well as our portfolio companies. This incorporates the delivery of key events such as the CEO and Chairman Forums, developing Active Partnership related training, creating visibility of advisor performance on Active Partnership initiatives as well as working on key business priorities, for example digitisation and sustainability. She is also responsible for the marketing and internal communications for the Private Equity business.

Prior to joining 3i, Jo worked at EY, initially in their Transaction Advisory Services group and then as Operations Director for their Global Private Equity team.