About Us
Gateway Ukraine was formed by professionals in the City of London, Ukraine and internationally, with the objective of promoting investment in Ukraine, providing advice to Ukrainian companies and international companies looking to invest in Ukraine, and encouraging connections and dialogue. The Corporate Twinning programme is the group’s first project
Our Trustees
Chris Ennals
Chris studied Russian and East European Studies at Oxford University, and has spent nearly 20 years working in investment banking at Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse. Chris has led numerous equity capital markets transactions across the EMEA region and beyond, with transaction experience including over a dozen Initial Public Offerings for companies from the former Soviet Union.
Seb Lawson
Seb is a partner with Freshfields in its global transactions team. He was the co-head of the firm’s Central and Eastern Europe group for over 10 years and has been working in the region since 2003. He has advised numerous Ukrainian companies during this time. He is currently on a 2-year secondment during which he will be working exclusively on pro bono projects to assist with the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
Volodymyr Sayenko
Volodymyr is a partner at SAYENKO KHARENKO, admitted in Ukraine and the State of New York (USA). He specializes in competition, M&A, corporate and securities law. Throughout his career Volodymyr has worked with clients across all major industry sectors but his principal focus is in the financial services, energy, oil & gas, real estate and media sectors.
Katya Kuznetsova
Katya is an independent consultant with over 25 years of international experience in deals, financial reporting and corporate finance across a range of sectors. She is a UK qualified accountant and an IPO expert with deep knowledge of London and international capital markets. Katya advised many companies from emerging and developed markets on preparation for, and execution of, public market transactions and other forms of capital raising.
Sevki Acuner
Sevki worked at the Central Bank of Turkiye, the Bank of Montreal and the Royal Bank of Canada. Joining EBRD in 1996, he worked as Senior Risk Manager; Deputy Director of Agribusiness; and Turkiye, and lastly as Director Ukraine. He served in Ukraine as the Board Chairman of Ukrzaliznystsia, the Railways operator, and Ukrenergo, the Power Transmission company until late 2021. He also briefly served as Chairman of Oschadbank.
Sevki is a Member of the Board of Directors of 3 Istanbul Stock Exchange companies, namely Tekfen Holding, Efes Breweries and Migros and leading efforts to establish the Climate Governance Initiative’s Turkiye Chapter. He is a member of the Ukraine-Georgia-Armenia Chapter.
Levent Aydinoglu
Levent is an M&A specialist with over 20 years of private equity and corporate finance experience, mainly in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). He has worked for PwC, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and worked as a partner for Bancroft Private Equity, and currently advises Obsidian Capital, an M&A firm. He served on the boards of several companies across the CEE region. He studied economics at University College London.
Daniel Cousens
Dan is a corporate/M&A partner with Linklaters who has been based in Warsaw since 2006. Dan has advised regional and international clients on M&A, capital raisings and disputes in Ukraine, Turkey and the CEE region and has a particular focus on Ukraine.