Jonathan Berman

Jonathan brings more than 30 years of experience in investment banking focused on energy, infrastructure and resources projects, mostly in emerging markets, and is recognised as one of the leading investment banking professionals in these sectors in Africa. He established Autonomi Capital as an independent adviser in 2019, with offices in Johannesburg, London and Dubai. From 2006-19 he was a Managing Director of Fieldstone Africa, in which role he led advisory assignments for a range of public and private sector clients across the continent. Prior to joining Fieldstone, he was Managing Director and Head of Global Markets for Deutsche Bank South Africa, in which role he was also CEO of Deutsche Bank AG Johannesburg branch and responsible for business development across the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. Before this Jonathan spent 17 years with Barclays, based successively in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York and Johannesburg. During his nine years in Asia, he completed many pioneering project, acquisition, export credit and capital market financings across the region, followed by three years as Director, Investment Banking for the US Power and Utilities sector. From 2001 to 2004 he founded and headed Barclays’ pan-African Merchant Banking business, which completed transactions in 12 countries across the continent and was named “Debt House of the Year” by Euromoney. During this time Jonathan represented Barclays in the establishment of the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF). He was a non-Executive Director of the Bond Exchange of South Africa from 2003-9 and oversaw BESA’s merger with the JSE. He currently serves on the investment committees of Verdure, a fund that provides long-term finance for small to medium-scale energy projects that reduce carbon intensity, and of Thusano Capital, Botswana’s first domestic infrastructure fund. He holds a BA (Hons) in Modern History from Oxford University and upon graduation completed the 3-year Barclays Management Development Programme, including the Chartered Institute of Bankers Examinations in Economics, Law and Accounting.