Mint Capital is Moscow-based with a team of experienced investment partners and investment managers. Each of the investment partners at Mint Capital has been working with direct investments in the region for approximately ten years. In addition, our investment partners have valuable experience in building Russian businesses and providing strategic management consulting services to Russian companies.
Investment Team
Ulf Persson , Co-founder and Managing Partner. Prior to founding Mint Capital, Ulf Persson had been in charge of private equity investments at Brunswick, including two years as Managing Director of the $300 million AIG and Brunswick-sponsored Millennium Fund. From 1990 to 1995, as a head of the Russian office at Axel Johnson and later at AIOC, he managed export of metals and raw materials from the CIS countries to Europe. Currently a board member of ABBYY, Gameland, 2V Studios, Elecsnet, Verysell and UCMS, over the past 10 years Ulf has been a board member of around 15 Russian companies spanning a wide range of industries. Ulf Persson is a graduate of Stockholm School of Economics and the Swedish Defense Language Institute. Living in Russia since 1990, Ulf Persson speaks Russian fluently.
Fredrik Ekman , Co-founder and Managing Partner. Fredrik Ekman spent most of the 1990s gaining solid experience in building and managing local companies as he led Oriflame from scratch to a market leading FMCG business in Russia, Ukraine and the Baltics. By 1998 he proceeded to work with the founders of Oriflame establishing Oresa Ventures, their Eastern European private Equity company in Moscow. Fredrik Ekman has worked in Russia since 1989 when he participated in the establishment of Tetra Pak’s first office in what was still the Soviet Union. In addition to board seats in Mint Portfolio companies Advakom (Chairman), Parallel Graphics and Maratex, MONE, Fredrik Ekman is member of the Board of Stockholm School of Economics Russia, the local executive education affiliate of his alma mater. Having first studied Russian at the Swedish Defense language Institute as an army conscript, he is a fluent Russian speaker.
Benjamin Wilkening, Partner. Ben Wilkening joined Mint Capital in June 2005 after two years of investment consulting work in the Russian cosmetics and convenience food sectors. Ben has multifaceted business experience ranging from private equity to strategic business consulting and marketing. From 1998 to 2003, Ben Wilkening was Director and Managing Director of AIG Brunswick Capital Management where he was a Board member of Northwest Telecom (Budgeting Committee) and IBS. Ben is German and has lived and worked in Russia since 1993 when he joined McKinsey in St. Petersburg. He speaks fluent Russian. Ben Wilkening is a Board member at Maratex, Gameland and Fruzhe. Ben holds an MBA from Wharton, an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Advertising and PR from the University of Wisconsin.
Kirill Vesselov , Investment Director. Kirill joined Mint Capital team in February 2006. Today, Kirill is a Board member at one of Mint's portfolio companies - A-Dept. From 2000 to 2003, Kirill lived and studied in France at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University. In 2004, Kirill continued his education in Canada in Business Administration and Finance at Bishop's University. Returning to Europe, Kirill joined Société Générale Investment Bank in Paris as an analyst in a team of bank's operations with Russian oil & gas companies. Kirill holds Masters Degree in International Strategic Management from the Pantheon-Sorbonne University in Paris and Masters Degree in Economics and Finance from the Ivanovo State Power University. Native Russian speaker, Kirill is fluent in English and French.
Julia Kingham , Corporate Lawyer. Julia joined Mint Capital in 2008 with a strong background in project management and legal affairs. Graduated from the University of Latvia with a degree in Computer Science and continued her education in Germany where she got a degree in Intellectual Property Law at the University of Augsburg. Julia is currently studying for her Russian Corporate Law degree at the Finance Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation. Prior to moving back to Moscow, Julia lived in Munich and worked as a Patent Attorney with Wuesthoff & Wuesthoff. She spent seven years in the US working for Accenture and PwC. Native Russian speaker, Julia is fluent in English.
Tatiana Gerastovskaya , Finance Director. Tatiana has been with Mint Capital since its inception and is responsible for all accounting of the company, budgeting and expense control, as well as overseeing fund's reporting and audit. Prior to joining Mint Capital Tatiana Gerastovskaya worked in Delta Capital Management, a US private equity fund. A fluent English speaker, Tatiana Gerastovskaya holds diploma with honors from Plekhanov Russian Academy of Economics in Moscow where she majored in International Economic Relations and Diploma in International Financial Reporting ACCA DipIFR.
