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TODII,BNIIMAN].HAS NO IVORRIDS ABOUT THD O[TT'comeoffteU,,Sr$qsidential election, Now head of corporate and

invesmem,,ban'king:et Russia's Sberbank CIB, Berman graduated

from Ftaivard',Lgw',,School with Barack Obama and worked forUitt Romniylatnmagement consulting firm Bain & Co. "Both are

outstanding,indidduats; rnen ofreal integrity, so the U. S . will do well

with either," theAmerican says.

This agnosticism befits a globe-trotting banker with a broadoutlook. "I feel very comfortable working in different cultures," says

Moscow-based Berman,48, who recently returned to Russia and

also holds a law degree from the University of Cambridge-He ioined $384billion-in-assets SberbankinJanuary20l I from

BankofAmerica MerrillLy'nch's I-ondon office,whereher*as global

co-head ofmedia and telecommunications. At Russia's largest bank

he aims to turn his division - formerly Moscow brokerageTroika

Dialog, which Sberbank acquired early last year - into an inter-national force. "\(/e're building a universal bankingmodd to molr

the bankbeyond its heardand in Russia and the Commonwealth ofIndependent States," says Berman, referring to a hybrid of invest-

ment and commercial banking. "Ife're really creating a uniqueproposition, and not just in Russia but across emerging Europe."

Recruiting some 45 Russian and foreign bankers and integratingTroikahave pulledBerman awayfrom deal making,buthe's bonfident

rhat his firm will soon be a global player in M&A and equity capital

markets. Sberbankis understood to befinancingoil giant andfellowstate-owned enterprise Rosneft on its $55 bitrlion acquisition ofBP'sRussian jointventure,TNK-BP; it's also a joint global coordinator forMoscow-based telecom MegaFon's planned listings on the I-ondon

and Moscow Stock Exchanges.Through late October, Sberbank CIBrankedNo. 9 fortheyearinRussianM&Adealvolume,with $ 14.3bI-lion, according to Dealogic, up 62 percentbut down three places from2)Lllts22tartsactions put it atNo. I in deal activity.

"Todd is a strong deal maker, but what sets him apart is that he is

alwals very inclusive when it comes to client relationships and willingto share expertise," says Dirk lWerner, head of M&A at Sberbank

CIB, who followed Berman from BofA Merrill.Berman also has plenty of international experience at building

universal banking operations at previous employers, includingCitigroup and BofAMerrill. "Universal banking enables you not iustto provide advice on how to execute a deal butttre ability to position

that deal in the market as well as delivering the capital to finance it,"he says. "That's averypowerful combination."I Born and raised in Dallas, Berman started his career in 1986 on'Wall Street, where he worked on Salomon Brothers'powerful debt

capital markets desk. He then.zigzagged between New York and I-on-

don,pickinguphis Cambridge degree before headingto Harvardinl989.Twoyears laterBerman joinedBain.\0(4ratseemedlike anoddmove for an investrnent banker sparked his interest in Eastern Europe,

and Russia in particular. "One of the partners at Bain asked me to

transferto Moscow forthree months," recalls the father offour,whospeaks conversational Russian. "I ended up stayingthere three years."

During his first stint in Moscow, Berman mostly advised big com-panies onhowto enterthe Russian market. He reioined Salomonin1 9 9 5 and soon took over its investment banking business in Central

and Eastern Europe. After Salomon became part of Citigroup inI 998, Berman added the Middle East andAfrica to his duties. He quitCiti in 2000 to leadthe global cemmunications practice at Lehman

Brothers Holdings, where he helped to build the European banking

franchise and worked on U.K. satellite communications provider

Inmarsat's $2.4 billion IPO in 2005. He joined Bank ofAmericaCorp. in 2006, becoming deputyhead ofinternationalbankingbeforetlre firm agreed to acquire Merrill Lynch & Co. two years later.

EarlylastyearBerman got a call fromlgor Sagiryan,who was then

runningTroika's investment banking division and had been chair-man ofBainLink, a Russian consulting jointventure. ForBerman'leavingBofAMerrill was an all-or-nothing proposition. "I would nothave gone backto Russia just to run investmentbanking forTroikastand-alone or for Sberbank stand-aloner" he says.

Berman calls himselfguardedly optimistic about Russia. "'We have

growth in the mlrket and some good fundamentals at very cheap

valuationsr"he says. "The keywill be to see continued stability in the

global markets and incieased risk appetite from global investors." *o

NOVEMBER 2012 . INSTITUTIONALINVESTOR.COM