Management
Mr. Blinten has 30 years of capital markets, investment banking, and principal finance experience in virtually every industry and region of the world. He executed $12+bn of capital markets and M&A transactions, managed a $1.5bn global trade finance business, created strategic partnerships, and is the senior relationship manager for several of the firm’s clients. Previously, Mr. Blinten co-headed Nomura Capital for the Americas, was a MD at General Re Financial Products, and headed Drexel Burnham Lambert’s Risk Arbitrage Group. He started his investment banking career at The First Boston Corporation and was an Operations Research Analyst/Petroleum Engineer at Amoco Production Company. Mr. Blinten earned a B.S. in Mathematics from NC State University and did post-graduate studies in Economics and Operations Research at NC State and Petroleum Engineering at Tulane University.
Mr. Cano has 15 years of experience in investment banking, management consulting, project and trade finance. Previously, he managed the working capital of Nemak (Grupo Alfa), a major multinational corporation with $3 billion in sales in the automotive industry. Mr. Cano held senior positions at Alterbrain, Grupo Vitro, and Grupo Cydsa.
Mr. Byrne is an expert in structured finance with 25 years of experience with major international banking corporations. He joined Credit Suisse in 1987 where he was a pioneer in asset finance and securitization and worked on many of the novel structures and asset types as the industry was just developing. In addition, he held senior positions in loan syndication, risk management and portfolio management. Mr. Byrne also held senior positions at Deutsche Bank where he ultimately co-headed the Global Securitized Product Group where he managed a staff of 200+ providing structured financing to clients across 40 different financial asset types. After the financial crisis, Mr. Byrne joined UBS to rebuild their ABS and RMBS businesses that had been shut down during the credit crisis. Mr. Byrne has an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in Finance from Fordham University.
1946 - 2022
“A true friend to Ireland’s heritage” and our dear family friend
Mr. Smithwick was the Founder and Chairman of Sullivan’s 1702, a premium craft beer brewery in Kilkenny, Ireland. He was part of the 9th generation of his family to continue the Smithwick family’s 300-year-old brewing heritage in Kilkenny, Ireland. Mr. Smithwick had significant experience in the agriculture, energy, finance, mining, oil, pharmaceutical, and timber sectors. He was Chairman of Unicorn Mineral Resources, a metals exploration company in Ireland, and served as Chairman of Kells Minerals Plc., Ovoca Gold Plc., and Grosvenor Recycling (London). He had extensive global contacts in the diplomatic and commercial arenas. Mr. Smithwick was a board member of the Jack and Jill Foundation, a member of the Knights of Malta (1976), and an Honorary Freeman of the City of Kilkenny (1975). In 2016, he was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year’s honours list for his service to British-Irish relations. He, along with the Duke of Abercorn, set up Bonds of Friendship which brings together members of An Garda Síochána, the PSNI, the army and the British army regiment the Irish Guards on an annual basis. A hereditary Freeman of Kilkenny, he was also involved in the Mayo Peace Park, which opened in 2008. It remembers all those from the county who died in armed conflict, most notably those who died in the first World War. He was a true friend to Ireland’s heritage and frequently supported events at various historic properties, particularly at Kilkenny Castle where he attended the 50th anniversary celebrations in 2019 that marked the official handover of the castle to the Office of Public Works. He is fondly remembered there as well as in Farmleigh, where he visited regularly. Paul’s final heritage battle saw him join with his friend Lord Iveagh to save the Iveagh Markets in The Liberties in Dublin. It was indicative of his selfless devotion to causes larger than himself.
Mr. Robins has 25+ years experience in the global retail, real estate and consumer goods industries in executive, consulting and advisory roles. He has lived in the US, Europe, and Asia Pacific working with many top-tier global companies such as LVMH, Louis Vuitton, Dior, DFS, Lend Lease and Ralph Lauren. In a corporate role at Tiffany & Co. he had global responsibility for real estate, store development, facilities and construction activities across twenty-four countries.
As an architect with real estate, branding and business development expertise, he founded a company responsible for the design, development and construction of award-winning and widely published luxury boutiques, shopping centers, hotels, offices and private residences. Responsible for the deployment of over $2 billion of capital investments, he has held operating, strategic and creative roles, and as a board director, advises consumer goods, retail and private equity companies.
Mr. Sanchez has 25 + years of experience in relationship management, commercial and investment banking, as well as the management of different business units. He held senior management positions at Banco Itaú and Banco Itaú BBA, in Brazil and also in the USA for 20 years, including managing Itaú´s International Commercial Department in Brazil for 4 years and Itaú´s operations in New York for over 7 years. More recently, he was Interbank - Banco Internacional del Peru´s country director in Brazil for six years. Mr. Sanchez was a Institute of International Bankers (IIB) Executive Committee member and a trustee at its Board of Trustees; a Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce (BACC) Executive Committee member and director; and a vice president at the Associação Brasileira de Bancos Internacionais (ABBI) International Banks Representative Offices Committee. He has published extensively in Peru on current business and economic topics, is fluent in Portuguese, English and Spanish, and holds a BA in Economics from the Pontificia Universidade Católica de São Paulo - PUC SP and a MBA in Finance and International Business from the University of California at Los Angeles - UCLA.
Mr. Reap joined Panamax Capital’s Advisory Board in January 2017. Michael brings to Panamax strong legal, operational and deal making experience developed over 30 years as well as a broad background in venture capital, energy, power, manufacturing, real estate, chemicals, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, engineering and technology industries. A seasoned legal and business executive, Mr. Reap has served as the chief legal officer and compliance officer for several multi-national companies. He has extensive experience leading complex corporate, financial, and restructuring transactions (including domestic and cross-border M&A, capital raises, secured and unsecured financings, spin-offs, joint ventures, securities offerings and other investment transactions) for global companies in transactions valued in excess of $30 billion. Mr. Reap currently serves as principal of the R12 Group, which provides a wide variety of legal and strategic development services to public and private company management teams and boards of directors. His extensive background in M&A, corporate financings, regulatory compliance, securities laws, risk management (including in litigation, contract negotiations, insurance and fiduciary advisory services for Boards of Directors), intellectual property management, operational turnarounds, outsourcing, downsizings and other HR matters make him a valuable internal resource for Panamax, and the clients we serve. Mr. Reap earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and French, magna cum laude, and a Juris Doctor from Washington & Lee University, where he was a Law Review editor.
Mr. Pelenur has over 30 years of in-depth experience in cross-border supply chain finance, real estate development, bulk food commodities production, distribution and trading, M&A and financial advisory services. He has held executive positions in major US and LatAm corporations, including ITT/Sheraton (Southern Cone), Techem/Techint (BR), The Pittsburgh Companies/Pittrex GMBH (AR/GM), Cliffstar/Cott Corp (AR, CH, US), Seneca Foods Corporation (USA) and owned and managed Valley Evap. Co (AR, US) and Trade Financing Partners (UY). Mr. Pelenur earned a BA in Economics from Cornell and a MBA in Accounting and Management from Pace University. He resides in Buenos Aires, Argentina and his business domain includes Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. Carlos is fluent in Spanish, English, French, and Portuguese.
Mr. Mokkoh has 30+ years of experience in corporate banking, capital markets, M&A, venture capital and private equity. From 2001 to 2017, Mr. Mokkoh was a Director, Venture Capital and Private Equity, at Marubeni America Corporation-NY, where he led the acquisition of Advantage Funding in New York in 2006 and sold it in 2015 to Macquarie Bank and subsequently acquired in 2011 20% of Westlake Financial Service in Los Angeles. Mr. Mokkoh served on the boards of both Advantage Funding and Westlake. Mr. Mokkoh held senior executive management positions at Rabobank-Japan (country manager, Chairman of Credit Committee and Management Committee), at Sakura Global Capital-Hong Kong (Regional Head of Asia), and Prudential-Bache Securities-Japan & US (Regional head for all Japanese and Korean transactions). Mr. Mokkoh earned a B.A. in Business and Commerce from Keio University, Tokyo.