Mr. Zaki is the founder and Managing Partner of Lorax Capital Partners (“LCP”), a private equity management company with USD 200 million under management allocated primarily from the Egyptian American Enterprise Fund (“EAEF”). Before founding LCP in 2015, Mr. Zaki founded and managed Gaston Capital, a boutique investment bank focused primarily on advisory and capital raising transactions in the Middle East region.
Before that, Mr. Zaki was Co-Head of Investment Banking at EFG-Hermes as well as a member of the Executive Committee. His regional coverage included Egypt, North Africa, the Levant, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As part of his role, he oversaw a team of 25 professionals based in Cairo executing mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt raising as well as restructuring assignments. During his time at EFG Hermes, he oversaw the group’s revenue growth from less than USD4 million in 2004 to approximately USD75 million at the end of 2007. During that time, Mr. Zaki executed more than USD6 billion of M&A transactions and an additional USD6 billion of equity transactions including Abraaj Capital’s USD1.4 billion acquisition of Egyptian Fertilizer Company, and Telecom Egypt’s USD890 million initial public offering.
Before EFG Hermes, Mr. Zaki worked at Morgan Stanley Investment Banking in New York for approximately six years between 1998 and 2004 focusing primarily on the Telecom, Technology, and Defense industries. His client coverage included Verizon, Sprint, ITT Industries, Danaher Corporation, and United Technologies, among others. Mr. Zaki left Morgan Stanley as a Vice President in 2004.
Mr. Zaki worked as an Analyst at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. in New York for two years at their Investment Banking Media & Telecom Group starting in 1996.
Mr. Zaki graduated from Cairo University Faculty of Engineering in 1993. He is currently a board member of Sarwa Capital, Fawry for Banking and Payment Technology Services, Orchidia Pharmaceuticals, Misr Hytech Seed International, and Advanced Education (NIS Schools).