Peter M. Halloran, born April 6, 1962 , is the founder and CEO of Pharos Financial Group, an investment firm active in the markets of the former Soviet Union. He has been a leader in the development of the Russian capital markets since their inception, bringing more than $8 billion of capital to the region. Halloran aided the development of the Russian capital markets through equity, debt, and private placements, while also influencing Russian bureaucrats and local exchanges to work around outdated Soviet-era laws and allow the Russian capital markets to flow.[1]
Starting in 1993, Halloran pioneered investments into Russia by purchasing nearly 10% of all outstanding privatization vouchers, in 1995 he arranged the first foreign investments into Russian treasury bills (GKO’s), and in 1997 he organized an unsuccessful $2 billion bid for Svyazinvest, Russia’s largest telecom holding company. In 2000 he bought a stake in a fledgling Russian investment bank, Aton Capital, and transformed it into a leading broker that was later acquired for $424 million by Unicredit of Italy. In 2002 he led Russia’s first domestic Initial Public Offering and in 2004 he launched a $300mm vehicle for investment into restricted shares of Gazprom, the world’s largest gas producer. Halloran has also acted as advisor to Soros Fund Management. He is currently expanding Pharos into a full service investment company focused on the markets of Russia and the region.
Halloran graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in History in 1984, and has lived in Moscow since 1995. Previously, he worked in New York for CS First Boston, Salomon Brothers, and Morgan, Grenfell & Co.. Halloran's maternal grandfather was Orvan Hess, a noted physician and recipient of the AMA Scientific Achievement Award for his work with penicillin and development of the fetal heart monitor.