Phil Southwell

Philip has a 32-year career in investment management and principal investing, and investment banking, mostly focused on emerging & frontier markets in Asia, Middle East, Central Europe and in Africa. Philip has been a Partner of Chapel Hill Denham since 2015. Chapel Hill Denham is an investment management and investment advisory firm focused on Nigeria and Africa and has a strong impact objective. The firm is a major participant in capital markets and is Nigeria’s largest Alternatives Fund Manager and one of the largest Pension Fund Managers.

Philip spent 13 years at Deutsche Bank (of which 5 were based in Asia) and was Head of Asia-Pacific for ECM; Head of Europe for ECM; Head of Coverage for Corporate & Investment Banking (“CIB”) EMEA; Board Director of DB Russia; Head of CIB for Central Europe, Middle East and Africa; COO for CIB in EMEA. During his Deutsche career, Philip chaired the global equity commitment committee and chaired the loan screening committee for emerging markets.

Philip’s career started in 1990 where he trained with Deloitte and qualified as an FCA before joining Smith New Court (Merrill Lynch) in 1994.

After DB, he moved to Dubai in 2009 firstly with EFG-Hermes as CEO of their GCC region & Head of Coverage where the $8bn asset management and private equity business was located, and then with Bank of America Merrill Lynch as President, MENA region and ExCo member for Emerging Markets (ex-Asia) for all products. In 2013 he was appointed CEO of Exotix the specialist emerging markets firm, where he successfully deepened their local market teams and product breadth.

Philip has worked on transactions with a value in excess of $150bn during his career. His experience is founded upon a client-first approach defined by analytical rigour, deep understanding of markets, and a commitment to excellence. Philip’s career has been defined by focusing on the importance of developing local currency capital markets and in providing independent and unbiased advice to clients.

At Chapel Hill Denham Philip chairs a number of investment committees and has helped build the asset management focus of the business including the N100bn Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund. He sits on Trustfund’s Investment Committee and Board. Nigeria has seen the capitalisation of infrastructure bonds and equity grow over the last 10 years from less than N100bn to over N4 trillion and Philip has helped Chapel Hill Denham dominate that infrastructure landscape.

Philip is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales, graduated from Durham University and Eton College.