[2] After graduating from Universita degli Studi di Roma, La Sapienza, in Italy, Grabau joined the investment bank Merrill Lynch in 1990 as an analyst.

During his time here, he held various leadership positions, eventually rising to managing director in 1999, responsible for driving growth within the consumer/retail and media/online industry practices, as well as the firm’s financial sponsors group.

[4] In May 2013, he was appointed as a non-executive director at Millicom, while the following month, he was offered the role of co-chairman of CTC Media, which he accepted.

[4] Through Kinnevik, he is a board member of various Kinnevik-owned companies, including telecoms giants Millicom[6] and Tele2,[7] media firm Modern Times Group,[8] e-commerce company Rocket Internet, as well as advisory firm SecureValue and online music retailer CDON.

He had some initial success as a golfer, reaching the Italian national team at the age of 21, before eventually shelving his sporting ambitions to study economics at the La Sapienza University in Rome.