Hristo Valev
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
Sofia, Bulgaria
Toptal member since February 24, 2020
Hristo has over 14 years of private equity and venture capital investment experience. He’s built and managed a $13-million portfolio of renewable energy investments while working with the PE/VC firm, Advance Equity Holding. He’s also been an active driver of due diligence, valuation, and structuring process in several other deals. As a freelancer, Hristo leverages his investment experience to deliver top-notch results across challenging projects.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Certification Highlights
Industry Expertise
Other Expertise
Work Experience
Financial and Investment Adviser
Freelance
- Built a financial model for an information technology company and advised the launch of a new product line.
- Revised the financial model and structured fundraising round to scale up an organic vegetable producer.
- Built a financial model for a cleantech startup looking for seed financing.
- Revised the financial model and the investor pitch deck of an AI-driven marketing automation startup. Prepared investment teaser for a seed financing round and identified suitable investors.
- Prepared an investor pitch deck for a travel technology startup seeking seed financing.
Executive Director
Energy Invest
- Conducted valuation and due diligence of several business opportunities in the wind power sector and had a leading role in the selection and structuring of investments.
- Managed the arrangement of bank financing and supervised the construction works of a 2.4 MW wind farm, refining its operating model, and optimizing costs and identifying opportunities for incremental revenue generation.
- Negotiated, structured, and executed the divestment of a wind farm as a spin-off, earning a 12% IRR on the investment.
- Managed the development of a large-scale wind farm project and navigated the pivot of the initiative from a subsidy-supported to a market-based business model.
- Built detailed business cases for investing in Bulgarian wind power projects on competitive (subsidy-free) grounds.
- Developed and maintained a vast network of international contacts in the cleantech industry with a focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors.
Investment Manager
Advance Equity Holding
- Managed the screening, reviewing, and selection procedures for deal flow and served as a member of the investment committee.
- Conducted financial due diligence, valuations and verification of the financial/business models for more than 50 investment proposals.
- Participated in the negotiations, structuring and drafting of the shareholder agreements of all of private equity and venture capital investments.
- Managed a portfolio of four investee companies in the clean energy and renewable sectors with total invested capital of $13+ million.
- Participated in the initial fundraising and subsequently led the investor relations function for an extended period.
- Acted as a project manager and change agent for several high-scale internal projects.
Managing Director | CFO
InterSol
- Oversaw the investment cycle for a photovoltaic (PV) power plant, including the assessment of the investment opportunity, the financing, construction and operation, and, the sale of the company to a strategic investor.
- Managed relationships with third-party financiers, including local banks and a multilateral lender, throughout the financing period.
- Managed the relationships with the company’s primary counterparties, including off-taker and energy traders, efficiently reducing variable costs associated with the production process, while ensuring uninterrupted and timely revenue collection.
- Prepared and executed an exit strategy for the majority shareholder of the company, achieving a cash-on-cash return of 1.5x and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 12%.
Financial Analyst
Karoll Capital Management
- Conducted financial analyses of publicly traded Bulgarian, Serbian, Romanian, and Russian companies.
- Provided various recommendations (buy, hold, or sell) to the portfolio managers.
- Introduced a set of metrics including tracking error—the Treynor ratio, Sharpe ratio, M-squared, and the appraisal ratio—to manage and measure the performance of mutual funds under the firm's management.
Education
Master's Degree in Economics
Central European University - Budapest, Hungary
Bachelor's Degree in Economics
University of National and World Economy - Sofia, Bulgaria
Certifications
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
CFA Institute
Project Management Professional (PMP)
Project Management Institute (PMI)
Skills
Finance
Financial Modeling, Valuation, Private Equity, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Budgeting, Due Diligence, Fundraising, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Investment Decision-making, Deal Advisory, P&L Forecasting, Cash Flow Modeling, Seed Fundraising
Industry Expertise
Renewable Energy, Venture Capital
Geographic Expertise
Eastern Europe
Output Software
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint
Other
Investment Consulting, CleanTech, Investment Committee Advisory, Project Management, Financial Investment Structuring, Deal Structuring, Executive Management, Investment Analysis, Term Sheet Negotiations, Investor Relations, Performance Analysis, Advisory, Energy Efficiency, Process Improvement, Change Management, Business Development, Contract Negotiation, Price Negotiations, Financial Analysis, Performance Management, Management, Project Development, Negotiation, Post-merger Integration, Operations Management, Investments, Investment Consulting, Business Modeling, Investor Presentations, Startups, Travel, Project Lifecycle, Agile Project Management, Waterfall Methodology, Project Budget Management, People Management
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