Our Team
The Board and Advisory team at Core represent a powerhouse of expertise, blending mastery in commercial strategy, financial markets, and operational leadership. With decades of experience spanning the vibrant Asia Pacific region and the fast-evolving markets of the Middle East, our professionals bring a nuanced perspective to both established and emerging landscapes.
Renowned for their command of investment finance – from global macro trading across all asset classes to innovative mezzanine structures – our team excels at navigating complexity with precision. Their seasoned insight, honed over 20 years in Asia Pacific and amplified by recent focus on specialised sectors like Energy and Financial Services in the Middle East, drives Core’s reputation for visionary leadership and exceptional outcomes.
Our People and Relationships
At Core, we are guided by an unwavering philosophy: businesses thrive through the brilliance of their people, and transformative private investments are built on forging deep, strategic alliances. Our success stems from cultivating exceptional relationships – connecting visionary leaders, innovative thinkers, and unparalleled talent to drive extraordinary outcomes. We believe that the strength of our partnerships defines our legacy, enabling us to navigate complexity, seize opportunity, and deliver value that resonates on a global scale. At Core, we don’t just invest in ideas – we empower the people behind them to shape the future.
Our Principles
At Core, our passion for investing and trading ignites a culture of excellence, where every associate is empowered as a valued partner and treated with unwavering respect. We foster a dynamic environment that champions entrepreneurship and prudent risk-taking, rewarding innovation that drives transformative outcomes. Rooted in integrity, we honour the rights and aspirations of our associates, shareholders, and the communities we serve, setting a global standard for quality and impact. Through teamwork, we build collaborative synergies that redefine markets, while our steadfast accountability ensures every decision aligns with our mission to deliver unparalleled value. At Core, these principles are not just ideals – they are the foundation of our legacy as pioneers in the world of investment and finance.
Accountability
Excellence
Integrity
Team Work
Entrepreneurship
Our Key Personnel
Prasann Patel
Director
Prasann Patel is an internationally recognised leader in Portfolio and Risk Management, with over 30 years of experience advising sovereign entities, major corporations, and institutional investors. A subject matter expert in risk management and dynamic hedging, Prasann designs and implements financial strategies that safeguard national economies, corporate balance sheets, and investment portfolios, ensuring resilience in volatile global markets.
Currently heading Nippur AG’s pioneering efforts in Energy and Risk Management, Prasann drives transformational solutions across the Middle East, Central Asia, and Europe. These initiatives extend beyond conventional risk mitigation, implementing dynamic hedging frameworks that provide robust financial protection while enabling optimal participation in market upswings.
Additionally, as a Director and Portfolio Manager at Core Investments Group for over 20 years, Prasann oversees global private equity investments and macro-driven trading strategies. His leadership has been instrumental in navigating major market cycles through deep quantitative analysis and discretionary macro expertise.
Prasann also co-founded Cross Asset Wealth Management, a multi-strategy firm specialising in macro-driven asset management across fixed income, equities, and commodities. Its global trading operations, spanning from Asia open to New York close, are marked by technical precision, strategic foresight, and operational excellence.
Beyond his professional achievements, Prasann is dedicated to philanthropy. Through the Deepavali Charitable Trust, he supports healthcare for over 42,000 patients monthly and provides quality education to 4,600 underprivileged girls in India, making a lasting social impact.
Jayesh J Patel
Director
Jayesh J. Patel serves as a Director of Core Investments Group and Executive Director of RB Patel Group, one of Fiji’s leading publicly listed companies. With a distinguished career spanning marketing and retailing, Jayesh brings over two decades of expertise across New Zealand and Asia, underpinned by a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. As a Fellow Associate of the New Zealand Institute of Management, he leverages his strategic acumen on the boards of major JRP Group companies and actively contributes to Core’s Investment Committee.
Jayesh’s leadership extends to cultivating an extensive network of supply chain relationships, stretching seamlessly from China to Türkiye. This global corridor enables Core’s retail operations to source premium goods with unmatched efficiency, leveraging his deep connections with manufacturers, distributors, and logistics providers across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. His mastery of world-class logistics operations ensures end-to-end excellence - encompassing advanced inventory management, optimised transportation networks, real-time tracking, and sustainable practices. These capabilities empower Core’s retail arm with agile supply chains, rapid market responsiveness, and a competitive edge in delivering high-quality products to customers worldwide.
Beyond his professional achievements, Jayesh is a passionate philanthropist, dedicating significant time as a Trustee of the Deepavali Charitable Trust. Through this role, he supports the operation of three hospitals and a school in Uttar Pradesh, India, providing critical healthcare and education to underserved communities, reflecting his commitment to creating lasting social impact.
Jignasha Patel
Director
Jignasha is a passionate advocate of enabling business growth and transformations through best practice executive management and governance. As an experienced commercial business leader with more than 25 years executive management experience leading diverse teams, portfolios and revenue streams in multiple countries, she has consistently delivered exceptional results in growth and business transformation while maintaining a strong bottom line.
Throughout her distinguished career, Jignasha has also brought long term strategic and commercial focus to the boards she has served and encouraged management to create strategies supporting long term shareholder and stakeholder value creation. She has served in independent governance roles at NZ Post Limited (Deputy Chair, Acting Chair Finance, Audit Risk and Director), NZ Post Superannuation Plan (Chair and Trustee) and Te Hononga Akoranga COMET (Trustee).
Experience gained on the commercial and non-profit boards had reinforced Jignasha’s belief in long term value creation through a collaboration and engagement model with diverse communities and building cross industry partnerships. Her enthusiasm for exploring new ideas and opportunities with fellow board members fuels her commitment to shaping a prosperous future for enterprises in Australia, New Zealand and beyond.
Currently, Jignasha holds the position of Director Enterprise, Finance, and Property at Auckland War Memorial Museum, where she continues to leverage her extensive expertise. Additionally, she serves as a Board Trustee for Te Hononga Akoranga COMET. Jignasha is a proud member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, as well as the Institute of Directors (NZ) and the Australian Institute of Company Directors, highlighting her commitment to professional excellence in her field.
Grant Dunn
Legal Counsel & Special Advisor
Grant Dunn is Core’s Legal Counsel and a Senior Partner in the corporate and commercial team at Buddle Findlay, New Zealand’s prominent legal firm. He previously spent 6 years with the London office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, a leading US law firm internationally recognised for its mergers and acquisitions and private equity practice.
Grant has broad experience in leveraged cross-border mergers and acquisitions, public takeovers, joint ventures and consortium arrangements, stock exchange compliance, corporate governance matters, management buyouts, restructurings and securities offerings. He has a particular focus on private equity and venture capital, having acted for some well known US and UK based VC and LBO funds such as HM Capital Partners (formerly Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst), CSFB Private Equity, GE Capital, PAI Management, Blackstone Group, Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity and Capital Z Partners, on their limited partnership formation, fund raising, portfolio company acquisitions, financings, ongoing investment and exits in the TMT, biotechnology, food and beverage, healthcare, energy, real estate, forestry, infrastructure, insurance and financial services sectors.