Team
Nav Kumar
Managing Director
Nav is Managing Director and Co-Founder at Meridian, set up as a strategic Merchant Banking firm supporting financial stability and economic prosperity globally. Nav is a graduate in Architecture (MA Hons) and Civil Engineering (MSc), studying at University of Cambridge and Cardiff University respectively, where his specialty was post-conflict reconstruction and redevelopment, including rapid coastal urbanisation. He practiced as an Architect following graduation, designing hospitals in the UK and Sri Lanka, a mosque in Doha Qatar, schools in the UK, mixed-use developments in Sri Lanka, before moving to Sri Lanka to focus on direct post-conflict redevelopment after the end of the 30-year civil war, contributing to internally displaced people’s housing design, going on to focus on Development Finance through his founded company P1F Limited, raising c.$250m between 2015 and 2019 for development in Sri Lanka. He has presented at the World Economic Forum, UK Government events as part of Belt & Road initiatives in China, and actively advises both private and state-owned enterprises engaged in frontier-market investment and development. Nav has received awards from the Royal Institute of British Architects, and is a member of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects.
Following the terrorist attacks on Easter Sunday 2019 in Colombo Sri Lanka, he went on to found Meridian as a globally diversified financial firm focused on financing economic and civil stability and economic prosperity. Meridian is now regulated as an Appointed Representative by the FCA in the UK, and 15a-6 Chaperone by the SEC in the US permitting arranging, advisory and mergers and acquisitions regulatory services in the US and UK.
Privately, Nav is a violinist, pianist, painter, enjoys long-distance running, is a private pilot (SEP VFR with the CAA), speaks English and Chinese (Mandarin), and is passionate about using capitalism to support civic stability and economic prosperity.
Aijan Sadyrova
Senior Advisor
Senior Project Finance professional with significant financing and advisory experience in international investment and corporate banking, operating across a range of industries with a particular focus on the Energy sector and across EMEA and the US. Proven track record of devising, proposing, and closing high-value, multifaceted financing solutions aligned with clients’ strategic goals. Extensive experience across the entire deal lifecycle—from origination to financial close—including bank management, deal structuring, due diligence, syndication, and negotiation.
Maximilian Johnson
Asia Specialist Advisor
Maximilian Johnson leads our Asia infrastructure strategy. His vast diplomatic and international banking experience has helped Meridian to originate new opportunities, support in sponsor negotiations, and general geo-economic strategy in the Asia region.
Maximilian Johnson has spent 17 years in Asia. After graduating in 2009 from Tsinghua University, Beijing, with an MBA (the first British citizen to do so), Max spent 3 years in China working as the business development manager for a British metals trader. He then spent four years at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong as an investment banker, working on a wide range of transactions across many industries, before moving into boutique advisory work.
Max was the youngest vice chair of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, a Leading Light for the British Council China, a founding member of China Britain Business Council's C2 China Committee, and Asia Society Next Generation Fellow. He was educated at Eton College (1998-2003), has a bachelor’s with honours in Modern Languages, Russian with Polish from Christ Church College, University of Oxford (2003-2007); an MBA from Tsinghua University in Beijing (2007-2009), and a certificate in management from MIT (2007-2009). He holds a black belt 1st Dan in Taekwondo.
He won a scholarship in 2005 to study Polish at Krakow's Jagiellonian University and in 2007 he came 1st in global Russian Language Essay competition. Max is semi-fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Polish, French and native English.
Kush Ganatra
Analyst
Kush is an up-and-coming analyst and international finance professional, having completed CFA I, II, and III (certification pending) and with direct fund management track record and experience having managed the family business estate post-graduation in India. At Meridian Kush works across the wide-array of infrastructure finance and corporate finance transactions, with previous experience on power, transport, and social infrastructure transactions. He is currently based in London, having completed his MSc Accounting and Finance at LSE with Distinction, and speaks over 5 languages.
Cameron Thomas
Economist
Cameron is an Economics finalist at Girton-College Cambridge, and a future leading light in Economics and Central Banking. Cameron has successfully interned having won awards at the Bank of England, and at Meridian has been instrumental in some of our most innovative and forward-thinking economics research and intelligence development, in particular focused our emerging-market sovereign debt sustainability and infrastructure finance in support of prosperity and civic stability.