Zola Fihlani

Bio

Mr Zola Fihlani is the founder of EVI Capital Partners and a former senior member of the Global Loans team at Absa Capital, an investment bank affiliated with Barclays Capital. He has over 10 years investment banking experience. Formerly a senior member within the Leveraged and Acquisition Finance team at Barclays Bank, South African Branch, Mr Fihlani joined Absa Capital in January 2006, following the US$3.5 billion majority acquisition of Absa Bank Limited by Barclays Bank plc. In Global Loans at Absa Capital, Mr Fihlani was responsible for structuring and execution for Leveraged Finance deals. His area of focus mainly included LBOs, MBOs and Leveraged recapitalizations. Mr Fihlani joined Barclays in 2004 after 5 years with the Structured Finance team at Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank, the investment banking arm of Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd. Whilst at Barclays, Mr Fihlani had specific responsibility for the execution of project and structured finance transactions in South Africa, Africa and the Middle East. He has worked mainly with major private equity players in the United States, Europe, South Africa and the Middle East. Mr Fihlani holds a BCompt (Hons) degree in Accounting from the University of South Africa, a Master of Commerce degree in International Taxation from Wits University, a Higher Diploma in Tax Law and a Higher Diploma in International Tax Law both from the University of Johannesburg. He is currently reading for his Doctorate Degree in Business Administration from the University of Manchester Business School. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.