Actis announces Six Partner promotions

7 March 2022, London: Actis, a leading global investor in sustainable infrastructure, is pleased to announce that Scott Choi, Alberto Estefan, Mauricio Giusti, Shami Nissan, Lisa Pinsley and Sumit Sen have been promoted to the Actis partnership.

Scott Choi joined Actis Asia Real Estate team in 2018 following the acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank’s Principal Finance Real Estate group (PFRE). Scott has 18 years of experience in investing across property types and risk strategies, with a particularly strong experience in managing development opportunities in Korea. Scott started his career as an analyst with KPMG FAS Korea and after spending three years, he joined Mirae Asset Global Investments which is the largest AMC in Korea and spent four years delivering successful outcomes as a senior investment manager of the real estate funds. Scott then joined Standard Chartered Principal Finance team in 2010 during which he made successful investments in and operated a wide range of real estate asset classes including office, logistics, hotel and retail. Since he joined Actis, Scott and his team have been focusing on data centre development and successfully established a strong position as a leading investor in the Korean market. He has also been responsible for building out Actis’ team in Korea and maintaining trusted relationships with Actis’ local LPs.

Alberto Estefan joined the Actis Energy team in 2014 and has played a key role in expanding our footprint in the Americas across four fund vintages. His investment experience includes Actis’ investments in Globeleq Mesoamerica Energy, Energuate, Zuma Energia, Atlas Renewable Energy andSaavi Energia. Prior to Actis, he was an Associate Director with Temasek’s Investment Group. Alberto started his career in Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking Division.

Mauricio Giusti joined Actis six months ago and brings extensive operating, consulting and investing experience within the Digital Infrastructure and Telecoms space – initially with McKinsey, then Telefonica and latterly as CEO of several Private Capital-backed Digital Infrastructure businesses. As CEO and founder of Phoenix Fibre (neutral FTTH business, recently sold to FiBrasil), PTB (cellphone towers, acquired by Digital Colony), K-2 Towers (small cells, acquired by Blackstone) and BR Towers (cellphone towers, acquired by American Tower), he has built an exceptional track record of over delivering for the respective private capital sponsors.

Shami Nissan leads Actis’ approach to responsible investment, sustainability and impact, working closely with investment colleagues and company management to assess and manage ESG issues, helping to build world-class businesses and to deliver measurable societal benefits. Shami is a member of the Actis Executive Committee, and Inclusion and Diversity Committee. Shami is an Advisory Board member of the World Bank/IFC’s Operating Principles for Impact Management and is an Advisory Panel Member of the G7 Impact Taskforce (ITC).

Lisa Pinsley joined Actis in 2016 and was appointed Head of Middle East & Africa for Energy in 2020, taking responsibility for the team and investments across the region. Lisa has over 20 years’ global experience including prior positions at The AES Corporation, Globeleq and American Capital. Her power investments have spanned three Actis vintages. Before her power career, Lisa lived and worked in Afghanistan for five years, first with the United Nations and then as a chief of staff advisor to the Afghan Finance Minister.

Sumit Sen joined Actis’ Long Life Infrastructure (“ALLIF) in 2017 and is responsible for Actis’ infrastructure activities in India and South East Asia. He has over 20 years of experience across accounting, investment banking and investing in energy, infrastructure and other sectors. Prior to joining Actis, Sumit worked for more than a decade at Goldman Sachs (GS), most recently as Executive Director in the GS Principal Investment Area (PIA) where he was responsible for investments across sectors with a specific focus on Energy, Infrastructure, TMT and Healthcare. Whilst at PIA, Sumit was a key member of the team that led the investment in Renew Power, one of the largest Indian renewable companies. Prior to joining PIA in 2011, he spent 7 years with GS’ Investment Banking Division in India (including 2 years in Bangalore) where he helped build GS’ investment banking business in the region. Sumit began his career in the assurance division at PricewaterhouseCoopers in India.