Maria Charash

Professional Background

Over 20 years of experience in M&A and integration, gained in energy sector (Shell, WFS, Petredec) and banking (JP Morgan)
Led M&A deals, developed M&A strategy, optimised portfolio, achieved smooth integration and separation and delivered synergies in excess of business case
Extensive experience in establishing and exiting joint ventures
Shareholder representative in JVs and partnerships
INSEAD MBA and Fellow of ACCA (qualified accountant)
Bi-lingual English – Russian speaker

M&A Skills & Expertise

Experience across multiple industries, including manufacturing, distribution and infrastructure, b2b and b2c, retail, advisory, shipping and trading
Managed various deal sizes, from multibillion deals which involved leading large teams of internal and external resources, to small deals (from $50k) that required fully hands-on approach
Led and closed buy-side, sell-side, JV and partnership deals
Experienced at all stages of projects, from identifying strategic fit, through due diligence, valuation, negotiation, closing and integration/separation
Winner, the M&A Advisor ‘Transaction of the Year’ Award in 2018 for a strategic acquisition

Project Highlights

Deal lead on projects ranging from $50k to in excess of $1bn at WFS and Petredec
Completed 14 deals, of which 4 JVs, 1 acquisition and 9 divestments. Led a further 20+ deals, including acquisition bids, swaps and divestments
Finance lead in a complex upstream-downstream swap deal at Shell. Successfully resolved differences in valuation with counterparty worth over $1bn
Finance IMO Lead, carve-out and audit, shareholder circular and divestment of Stanlow refinery (UK) from Shell to Essar (over $1bn)
Finance IMO Lead, carve-out, separation and divestment of Berre refinery (France) from Shell to Basell (over $300mln). Supervised development and implementation of new finance processes and new IT SAP module.
IMO Lead, Shell-BG Merger, Treasury (multibillion)
Implementation competency building, training and planning for distribution businesses implementation in partnership context in Africa and India, at Petredec