The Challenge Capital Partners Management Team is comprised of highly experienced and qualified executives, with strong track records. In addition to this team, Challenge Capital Partners has an advisory team with highly relevant experience and roles in the oil industry, commerce, political arena and investing/finance.
“Topper” Gurdon Flagg Quinn formed the Challenge Group of companies based primarily in Wyoming – USA, but with offices in London, New York and Dubai in 2006 as a private equity structure for various investment opportunities.
His investment banking career started in 1988 with the Ansbacher Group, which provided mergers and acquisitions advice. In 1994, Topper co-founded Knatchbull Quinn Communications, a media investment company based in London. In 2000, Topper founded Greater Challenge Venture Partners, a consulting firm which provided corporate advice to the various companies active in technology, real estate, telecommunications, media and entertainment, food, natural resources and the fashion industries.
In 2005, Topper created Opportunity Limited, a London based consulting firm to help clients such as corporations, private equity and hedge funds access the capital markets worldwide. Topper continues to identify esoteric sources of expansion capital for its various clients worldwide.
While still at New York University, Topper worked summers as a roughneck in the oil & gas fields of Texas, Oklahoma and Wyoming and helped to operate an electric arc furnace in Sweden. Topper graduated from New York University TOSA with a BFA in 1987 where he wrote, produced and directed short films and authored screenplays.
Challenge Energy Partners has an alliance with, and Topper is also the President of, the Global Network for Energy and the Environment, which is developing energy technologies that are beneficial for the environment.
Aeneas Reay was educated at Westminster School (London) and Brown University where he graduated with a BA Economics (1987). Following a few years as a Financial Analyst and Associate at Salomon Brothers (1987 – 1991) he was a Director of Robert Fleming & Co in the Equity Capital Markets department in London before moving to New York as Equity Syndicate Manager. Following the acquisition of Flemings by Chase Manhattan in 2000 and subsequent merger with JP Morgan, Aeneas moved to London as part of the JP Morgan ECM capital raising team.
In 2003, he founded Montrose Partners which focussed on corporate finance and capital raising for growth businesses, particularly in the energy and technology sectors. Montrose acted as financial advisor to numerous energy companies including Ophir Energy, an oil & gas business with assets in Africa, from its inception and raised over $480 million for the company. Montrose also raised over $120 million in equity and debt for Green Frog Limited, the UK power station operator. Since 2011, Aeneas joined forces with Challenge Capital to focus on advising and raising capital for growth businesses.
Stephen Buscher was educated at Yale, the London School of Economics and Connecticut College. He began his career in investment banking where he was specialized in oil and gas work. He started in M&A at Bankers Trust in New York and worked subsequently at Lazard Freres and Merrill Lynch in Moscow.
Beginning in 2005 Stephen crossed over to act as a CFO. He was a founding member of the management of Urals Energy Plc, having overseen their IPO and served on the Board of Directors until 2019. He has served as either CFO or CEO and board member for a number of energy companies, including NavitasResources, a subsidiary of RussNeft, and the midstream terminal, storage and supply companies Mina Petroleum and Sirius Energy. At present, he is the CFO of Eastern Air Holdings, a holding company that own multiple airlines and an MRO.
Simon Hedley is a chartered accountant (FCA) with audit experience (PricewaterhouseCoopers). He has over a decade of investment banking experience across Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Scotland and Abn Amro. He was an investment manager at Abn Amro and Royal Bank of Scotland – including with primary responsibilities for the day to day management of c. 1.2bn€ inside regulated UCITS approved investment funds.
Simon graduated with a 2.1 BSc in Mathematics from Durham University and was a major scholar at Tonbridge School.
Kumar Patodia is a Director at Unimark Group and heads the group’s core business strategy. Prior to this, he worked at JP Morgan Securities in New York. He is the Co-Founder of Calcutta Angels, Kolkata’s first platform for entrepreneurs and angel investors, board member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) Calcutta, member of the Managing Committee of CREDAI Bengal, member of the Executive Committee of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, member of the Core Committee of the Indian Green Building Council Kolkata, Co-Chair of the Penn Club of India, and has served as Curator of the Global Shapers Kolkata, a World Economic Forum initiative. He is involved in social and philanthropic work through the Unimark Foundation and Patodia Welfare Society.
He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Economics (Finance and Operations in Information Management) from the Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the College of Arts and Sciences.