Lorenzo Grabau is an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

businessman and he was recently

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

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investment firm

Investment AB Kinnevik Kinnevik AB () is a Swedish investment company that was founded in 1936 by the Stenbeck, Klingspor and von Horn families. Kinnevik is an active and long-term owner investing primarily in digital consumer businesses. Current CEO, Georgi Ganev, w ...

until December 7, 2016. Prior to this, Grabau had an extensive career in investment banking, with 17 years spent at

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

Career

After graduating from Universita degli Studi di Roma, La Sapienza, in

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, Grabau joined the investment bank

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

in 1990 as an analyst. He remained here for five years working in the mergers and acquisition department in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

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. In 1994, he joined the investment banking division of

, where he remained until 2011. During his time here, he held various leadership positions, eventually rising to managing director in 1999, responsible for driving growth within the consumer/retail and media/online industry practices, as well as the firm’s financial sponsors group. Grabau’s Kinnevik career started in 2011 after he was appointed as the non-executive director of

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. At this time, he was also appointed as a non-executive director of

SoftKinetic Sony Depthsensing Solutions SA/NV, formerly known as SoftKinetic, is a Belgian company founded by Eric Krzeslo and Thibaud Remacle which develops gesture recognition hardware and software for real-time range imaging (3D) cameras (such as time-of-f ...

, a Belgian IT software provider. In May 2013, he was appointed as a non-executive director at

Millicom Millicom International Cellular SA (NASDAQ U.S.: TIGO, NASDAQ Stockholm: TIGO_SDB) is a Luxembourgish fixed line and mobile telecommunications services provider dedicated to emerging markets in Latin America operating under the Tigo brand. As of D ...

, while the following month, he was offered the role of co-chairman of

CTC Media CTC Media is the leading Russian independent broadcasting company with headquarters in Moscow, Russia. History CTC Media (till 2004 - StoryFirst Communications) was established by a U.S. entrepreneur Peter Gerwe in 1989 in Delaware in the United ...

, which he accepted. In May 2014, he assumed his current role as CEO of

, as well as a directorship at

Tele2 Tele2 AB is a Swedish telecommunications operator headquartered in the Kista Science City, Stockholm, Sweden. It is a major telephone operator in Sweden, Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Tele2 also has a 25% share in T-Mobile Netherland ...

. Through Kinnevik, he is a board member of various Kinnevik-owned companies, including telecoms giants Millicom and Tele2, media firm Modern Times Group, e-commerce company

Rocket Internet Rocket Internet SE is a German Internet company headquartered in Berlin. The company builds startups and owns shareholdings in various models of internet retail businesses. The company model is known as a startup studio or a venture builder. It ...

, as well as advisory firm SecureValue and online music retailer CDON. He is also the deputy chairman of the board of Kinnevik’s online fashion firm, Zalando. In addition to these roles, Grabau is also the co-chairman of CTC Media, a Russian media company.

Personal

Grabau was born and raised in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, attending a French school in his early years. He had some initial success as a golfer, reaching the Italian national team at the age of 21, before eventually shelving his sporting ambitions to study economics at the La Sapienza University in Rome. He is now married to wife Sabrina Bodmer and they have two children. Both Lorenzo and his wife are art collectors and sit on the council of the

Serpentine Galleries The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Central London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Gallery, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grabau, Lorenzo 1965 births Living people