Philip Clausius founded Transport Capital in 2013. Apart from the overall management responsibility for the firm, he also heads the maritime franchise.

Prior to founding Transport Capital, he was the Co-Founder & CEO of the FSL Group – a Singapore-based provider of leasing services to the international shipping industry.

During his tenure at FSL (2003 – 2013), he oversaw the acquisition, financing, and deployment of approximately US$1 billion in maritime assets. He was also the driving force behind the highly successful IPO of FSL Trust in March 2007 which raised about US$330 million in equity proceeds in a globally marketed offering culminating in FSL Trust listing on the SGX Mainboard.

With more than 30 years of experience in various entrepreneurial roles in shipping and ship finance, he has worked and lived in Europe, USA, and for the last 20 years in Singapore.

Philip is an Independent Non-Executive Director of Schoeller Holdings as well as a Non-Executive Director of Bengal Tiger Line.

Philip graduated from the European Business School, Germany in 1992 with the “Diplom-Betriebswirt” degree and completed the Advanced Management Programme of INSEAD in July 2023.

Joshua Politis is the Deputy Managing Partner of the Transport Capital Group, having joined in 2019. He also co-founded and leads the MarImpact and TC Ventures businesses.

He shares overall responsibility for the strategy and performance of the Group, with a special focus on driving its sustainability agenda and spearheading maritime decarbonisation activities.

Bringing 20 years of experience, Joshua has a global perspective and a senior-level network across four continents within the maritime and offshore energy industries. His career spans roles in general management, commercial management, business and corporate development and operations. Prior to Transport Capital, he was the Director & General Manager of Asia Pacific at SEACOR Marine, overseeing operations and leading over USD300 million of M&A and restructuring deals in the Asian region.

Joshua is also a Non-Executive Director at Britoil Offshore Services, Member of the Advisory Board at Turtle and an Industry Sector Expert at Seahawk Investments.

Joshua holds an Executive MBA from the Singapore Management University.

Soeren joined in 2014 and leads the Group’s aviation franchise. Prior to Transport Capital, Soeren was the Managing Director and Member of the Board at AFPL – a privately owned aircraft lessor, he was also Non-Executive Chairman of Bravo Passenger Solutions, a Singaporean IT services provider to airlines and is concurrently the Chief Commercial Officer of the aircraft leasing company Avation plc.

Up until 2010, Soeren was the CEO at AerCap Group Services (NYSE: AER) – one of the world’s leading aircraft leasing companies with a fleet of 1300 aircraft. Soeren also held other positions at AerCap, including Head of Europe, Africa, Middle East and the Asia Pacific, Head of Asia Pacific, and Vice President of Marketing Asia Pacific. AerCap grew its portfolio from US$2 billion to US$10 billion during the 7 years Soeren worked there. Before his tenure at AerCap, Soeren was working at leading aircraft manufacturer Airbus as Sales Director Pacific and China (1997-2003) and General Manager Marketing China (1995-1997).

Soeren graduated with an engineering degree from ENAC – the French National School for Civil Aviation.

Since the company’s inception in 2013, Lay San is responsible for asset management and reporting functions for all asset management mandates. She also oversees risk, legal and insurance matters.

Prior to Transport Capital, she was the Chief Risk Officer (2006-2013) at FSL Trust Management Pte. Ltd., the Trustee-Manager of First Ship Lease Trust (a shipping trust listed on the SGX Mainboard), where she was instrumental in the development of proprietary risk management protocols and headed the risk management team in charge of the risk assessment and risk monitoring processes.

Lay San began her career at DBS Bank in 1995 as a Corporate Banker responsible for both relationship and credit management of large corporate clients engaged in shipping, logistics, communications and property development.

From 2003 to 2006, she was a Credit Approver covering the transport and logistics industry with responsibility for approving/supporting credit recommendations and counterpart risk ratings.

She holds a Master of International Management (Honours) degree from Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management, and a Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours and Distinction) degree from the University of Iowa, USA.

Nicole was appointed as the Chief Financial Officer of Transport Capital in August 2022. She is responsible for group accounts, tax, finance and treasury functions of the Transport Capital group of companies.  Nicole joined Transport Capital in 2014 as Head of Accounting.

Prior to joining Transport Capital, she was the Finance Manager (2006-2014) of FSL Trust Management Pte. Ltd., the Trustee-Manager of First Ship Lease Trust (a shipping trust listed on the SGX Mainboard), where she worked closely with the Chief Financial Officer on all financial and tax matters.

Nicole began her career with Ernst and Young Singapore as a financial auditor in 2002 and focused on the audits of publicly listed and multi-national corporations.

She holds a Master of Applied Finance degree from Macquarie University, Australia and a Bachelor of Accountancy (Honours) degree from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She is a Chartered Accountant with Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants.

Tom Zachariassen joined Transport Capital in 2023 and is currently a Partner and the Head of Asia-Pacific of the Group. He is responsible for the business development and growth of our Corporate Finance business in the Eastern hemisphere, which encompasses transaction origination, placement, and funding.

Prior to this, Tom was the Chief Financial Officer at HBC Hamburg Bulk Carriers during its recent merger process with Asia Maritime Pacific. Previously, Tom spent more than 18 years with Nordea Bank, primarily covering the Asian markets and lastly held the position as Client Executive and Head of Shipping & Offshore Asia. After leaving Nordea in 2021, he established Easterlies Consulting, an independent consultancy and advisory firm focusing on the maritime industry.

Tom is a graduate of the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) in Bergen, Norway.

Rebecca joined in 2015 and is responsible for legal advisory for the company.

Before joining Transport Capital, she was the Legal Counsel and Company Secretary of FSL Trust Management Pte. Ltd., the Trustee-Manager of First Ship Lease Trust (a shipping business trust listed on the SGX Mainboard in 2007) and the First Ship Lease group from 2008 to 2013.

Prior to that, Rebecca was a Legal Counsel at ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited (a land transport focused company listed on the SGX Mainboard) and was also its Company Secretary before she left. This portfolio included legal advisory support to its listed subsidiaries, SBS Transit Ltd and VICOM Ltd.

Rebecca started her legal career at a law firm handling loan financing, conveyancing and general solicitors’ work. She holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree from the National University of Singapore.

Hans Kew joined Transport Capital in 2023 as a Corporate Finance Analyst. His prior experience includes an internship at PwC Deals Advisory, where he contributed to multiple cross-border M&A transactions. In addition, he also interned at other firms such as CLSA and KPMG during his undergraduate studies. Hans holds a BSc (Honours) in Accounting and Finance from the Singapore Institute of Management – University of London.

Amelia joined Transport Capital in July 2024 as an Associate in Corporate Finance. Amelia’s responsibilities focus on research, analysis, and financial modeling while fostering strong client relationships.

Prior to joining Transport Capital, Amelia was a Senior Associate in Deals Advisory at PwC Singapore LLP. Prior to that, she worked on audits at RSM Chio Lim LLP and Crowe Malaysia PLT.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration (Accounting Major) from Monash University in Melbourne.

Jun joined in 2022 and is a Chartered Accountant with 12 years of financial experience. She has previous experience at IBC Informa, Unilever Asia and JCB Sales.

Jun has a Double-Major in Mathematics and Statistics from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and a Masters of Applied Finance from the University of Adelaide.

Selina Tan joined Transport Capital in 2015 as a Senior Accountant. Currently, she manages the full set of accounts and handles all AP functions including the review and follow-up of invoices. Additionally, she liaises with external auditors as well as the operation and technical teams involved in ship management-related accounting.

Prior to this, Selina worked at Jardine Lloyd Thompson where she served as a Finance Manager for 14 years.

Sandy joined in 2014 as an Assistant Accountant. She is responsible for preparing payments and invoices, as well as performing monthly financial closing for certain entities under the Transport Capital Group.

Previously, she was with FSL Trust Management for 8 years where she was an Assistant Accountant.

Serena joined in 2020 and leads the Group’s loan and lease financing transaction efforts in Greater China. With her efforts, the company’s business in Greater China has achieved rapid development, including several transactions with value of more than USD600 million in this area.

Serena was previously the Head of Shipping Finance at Minsheng Financial Leasing where she was responsible for shipping finance projects. Whilst at Minsheng Financial Leasing, she completed more than 20 international ship financing projectswith a total value of more than USD2.5 billion. Financing products included ship project financing, JOLCOs, ABS and private bonds. She also served on the ship leasing credit/committee.

Prior to this, she was the Group Assistant President in charge of treasury, capital management and budget analysis departments for the Funtalk Group, a Chinese telecommunications sales company. Her involvement in many M&A transactions led the company to grow to over 2000 retail stores with 10,000 employees. She also assisted the company to list on the NASDAQ in 2009.

Serena started her career as a Senior Auditor in Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu CPAs where she performed annual statutory audits as well as special audits for listed multinational and domestic companies in China.

She obtained her MBA from Guanghua School of Management, Peking University and her Bachelor’s degrees in Philosophy and Economics from Peking University. She is a Certified Public Accountant in China and speaks native Mandarin and fluent English.

Nikos Papanestis joined Transport Capital (Greece) Inc. in September 2024 as Head of Greece, based in Athens. In this role, he will drive overall business development and oversee administrative affairs in Greece.

Before joining Transport Capital, Nikos served as Senior Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager at DNB Bank ASA in London and Athens. There, he played a key role in re-establishing the bank’s presence in Athens and enhancing the Greek portfolio through sustainability-linked financing and capital sourcing.

Nikos holds a Master of Science in Banking & Financial Management from the University of Piraeus, Greece

Hanno joined the Transport Capital Group in February 2023 as the Senior Director (Europe). In his role, Hanno’s responsibilities include identifying and building new business opportunities for the company.

He brings with him close to 20 years of industry experience in sustainable finance, deal sourcing, brokering transactions, advisory and more. Formerly, Hanno was the Founder & CEO of New Shore, a bank-licensed online platform for security tokens. He was also previously the Director, Business Development at Frachtcontor Capital Partners (Hamburg); and prior to that, the Managing Director of Oskar Wehr Asia Pte. Ltd in Singapore.

Hanno graduated with a Master of Science (MSc), Shipping Trade & Finance at Cass Business School, London.

Sebastian joined the Transport Capital team in July 2022. Passionate about decarbonisation objectives, he drives the Group’s activities within the European region.

With over 25 years of financial and operational experience in transportation and related infrastructure, including capital raising and mergers & acquisitions, Sebastian has built his career through roles which mainly include Group Finance Director of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company Holding as well as investment banking roles at SCB, BNP Paribas and Morgan Stanley in Europe and Asia.

Based in Oslo, Tom joined the Transport Capital team in 2024 as the Head of Nordics. He brings with him a wealth of experience from the financial institutions and shipping sectors. Tom’s extensive background in financial advisory and his deep industry connections will be invaluable as he takes on the responsibility of overseeing the company’s operations in the Nordics. Tom’s global network will play a crucial role in enhancing our service offerings across the region.

Michael de Visser was appointed Senior Advisor on 3 October 2024. Michael will guide the expansion of Transport Capital’s maritime specialist services, drawing on his extensive expertise in business development, asset financing, and deal-making to drive strategic growth and innovation.

With almost three decades of experience in asset finance and capital advisory, Michael held several senior positions in the maritime finance sector, including Global Head of Shipping; Intermodal at NIBC Bank prior to joining Transport Capital.
Michael holds a Global Executive OneMBA of Erasmus University (RSM), in a partner program with FGV (Brazil), Xiamen University (China), Egade Business School (Mexico) and UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School (USA).

Hubertus Clausius is the Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager Seahawk Investments GmbH – a subsidiary of Transport Capital established in 2018.

At Seahawk Investments, he has been managing a Long Short Equity Fund (UCITS) focused on the sectors of transportation and energy since May 2019.

Hubertus brings more than 15 years of experience in managing large institutional mutual funds and institutional segregated account mandates with a total volume of more than EUR 1.5 billion.

In 2007, he joined Helaba Invest as a Senior Fund Manager. Initially, he focused on the fixed income segment managing institutional segregated mandates and two mutual funds, one of which has been awarded the highest 5-star Morningstar Rating in 2011.

Thereafter, he has expanded his expertise, covering a large spectrum of asset classes. Since 2011, he has successfully managed complex multi-asset mandates covering international equities, fixed income credit and sovereign instruments. In this role, Hubertus has managed to outperform his benchmarks by a significant margin.

Prior to joining Helaba Invest, he worked with Swiss Re Asset Management (Asecuris) from 2002 to 2005 as their client relationship manager within institutional asset management. From 2006 to 2007 he was the Assistant Portfolio Manager and Trader for Landesbank Berlin Int. in Luxembourg. In total, he has 15 years of experience within institutional asset management.

Hubertus earned his MBA from SDA Bocconi (Milan) and is a CFA Charterholder.

Benedikt Schröder joined Seahawk Investments GmbH as a Senior Portfolio Manager in April 2024. Benedikt’s particular expertise is in the area of high-yield bonds. At Seahawk Investments he is presently developing a new credit strategy in the area of energy and transportation. Benedikt has been working in the investment industry since 2014 and has several years of experience as a portfolio manager and analyst focusing on the credit segment.

Prior to his appointment at Seahawk, he worked for Lazard Asset Management in Frankfurt and Bantleon in Zurich. In the early years of his professional career, he focused on US corporate distressed bonds as a credit researcher. As of 2016, he took responsibility for traditional euro investment-grade and high-yield strategies as a portfolio manager. Since 2020, he further assumed specific responsibility for setting-up and managing an unconstrained strategy focused on niche segments in the global high-yield universe. During 2023, he worked in debt capital markets research at SEB AB in Frankfurt before joining Seahawk in 2024.

Benedikt holds a Master’s degree in Controlling and Finance from Wiesbaden Business School and a Bachelor’s degree in Politics and Economics (P&E) from the Technical University of Darmstadt. Moreover. he is a CAIA Charterholder.

Julieth joined Seahawk Investments, a subsidiary of Transport Capital, in 2023 as a Fund and marketing Assistant. Her responsibilities include the support of fund management and marketing activities such as newsletter marketing, customer communication, daily NAV reconciliation, fund performance attribution analysis, and reporting.

Julieth brings more than eight years of experience in different areas, working for international companies. She studied Modern Languages in Colombia with a focus on IT. She speaks Spanish, English, Italian and German. Previously, she held a dual role at The Jobcenter Staffing (USA) as Executive Assistant and Operations Manager for the company’s podcast, where she handled all the communication and online marketing aspects, editing and publishing video and audio content on online platforms.

Prior to working in marketing, Julieth worked as a sales representative for Colombian and international companies, where she has assisted clients from all over the world.

Based in Australia, Casey Naisbitt joined in 2023 and is responsible for Business Development in Australia for MarImpact. Casey brings extensive knowledge in Road Transport Logistics, Broad Acre Farming, the Commercial Fishing industry, Commercial Shipping, Offshore Oil and Gas industry, as well as Senior Management and Consultancy to the table.