2022 Cross-Border M&A and Private Equity Conference

Conference Co-Chair
Partner and Lawyer, McDermott Will & Emery, Munich

Christian von Sydow advises clients on corporate law, M&A, private equity, restructuring, corporate conflict resolution and estate planning. He has represented a large number of international and German clients, including strategic and financial investors, in acquisitions and sales of businesses in Germany and internationally in cross-border matters. Mr. von Sydow represents clients in a wide variety of industries, including automotive supply, consumer electronics, defence, energy, internet, optics, publishing, retail, software, technology and testing technology, travel and tourism.

Conference Co-Chair
Partner and Lawyer, McDermott Will & Emery, Munich

Dr. Nikolaus von Jacobs advises private equity funds and German industrial players on private equity, venture capital, and private and public mergers and acquisitions. Nikolaus leads the Firm’s German private equity activities.

Before joining McDermott, Nikolaus was a partner of another international law firm and headed its German private equity practice. He has also worked in investment banking and European capital markets for Merrill Lynch, London.

Consul General of Ukraine in Munich

Yuriy Yarmilko was born in 1958 in Cherkassy region. He studied international relations at Taras Shevchenko University in Kyiv and started his career in the diplomatic service in 1990. In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs he worked in the press office and headed the personnel department, abroad he worked in the Embassy in Austria and consulates in Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg.

Principal and Global Policy Advisor, Brooch Associates, London, Global Advisory Firm

Dr. Stefanie Babst can look back at a remarkable professional journey in NATO's International Staff. In the course of 22 years she held different positions in the Public Diplomacy Division which she was appointed to lead as NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General from 2006 to 2012. The post made her the highest-ranking German woman in the International Secretariat. From 2012 to 2020, she led NATO's Strategic Foresight Team - a fabulous civil-military team, advising the NATO Secretary General and Chairman of the Military Committee on strategic unknowns and potential upcoming crisis situations in geographical and functional areas of relevance to the Alliance.

Stefanie began her career in 1991 as Assistant Professor for International Security Policy at the Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel, Germany, moving on to become Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the Federal Armed Forces Command & General Staff College in Hamburg.

She is an internationally renowned strategic advisor, publisher and speaker on international security issues and board member of the German Council on Foreign Relations and the Danish Center for War Studies. Stefanie is also active in various security networks, including Women in International Security (WIIS) and the World Economic Forum. She also is a Senior Associate Fellow with the London-based European Leadership Network. In recognition of her professional achievements, she received several state awards.

Conference Co-Chair
Partner and Lawyer, McDermott Will & Emery, Munich

Dr. Nikolaus von Jacobs advises private equity funds and German industrial players on private equity, venture capital, and private and public mergers and acquisitions. Nikolaus leads the Firm’s German private equity activities.

Before joining McDermott, Nikolaus was a partner of another international law firm and headed its German private equity practice. He has also worked in investment banking and European capital markets for Merrill Lynch, London.

Managing Partner, Oaklins Angermann AG

Florian is a managing partner at Oaklins Germany, and served as president and chairman of Oaklins International between 2016 and 2019. He joined the firm as an M&A consultant in 1994 and became a partner in 1998. Florian has advised on over 120 M&A transactions, many of them cross-border, mainly in the industrial space. Most of his clients are privately-owned Middelstand companies (hidden champions), but also include larger conglomerates and private equity firms. He has particular expertise in industrial manufacturing, machinery, engineering, industrial automation, precision metal processing, tool manufacturing, injection molding, electronics, food & beverage and construction and facility management. Florian leads Oaklins’ industrial machinery & components team and is an active member of the food & beverage team.

Prior to 1994, Florian worked at Siemens Components Pte Ltd. in Singapore. He has a doctorate in economics and political economy and studied business administration at the universities of Goettingen, Germany, and Fribourg, Switzerland.

Partner, Strategy& Germany, PwC

Teresa Schawe is a leading practitioner in M&A strategies, business services and private equity. She is a Partner at Strategy& Germany, and based in the Frankfurt office. As a member of our Deals practice, she advises international clients on medium to large-scale transactions and value enhancement programs.

With more than 14 years of professional experience in investment banking and consulting, Teresa has a broad network, strategic skills and an in-depth expertise in the international transaction market.

Prior to joining Strategy&, Teresa worked for an investment bank and successfully led the Private Equity business of an international management consultancy in Germany.

Teresa holds a diploma in economics from the University of Cologne.

Head of DACH & CEE, Datasite Germany

Markus is Head of Central Europe (DACH), CEE and CIS for Datasite. He has been accompanying the transformation to Datasite for more than 6 years now and has been leading the Frankfurt office since 2017. Previously, he mainly worked in the financial market, as Sales Manager Europe for Trading Technologies and as Account Manager for Thomson Reuters. He graduated from Purdue University in the USA with an Executive MBA and co-founded the technology start-up Evo Fintech in 2016.

Partner, McDermott Will & Emery

Dr. Nadine Hartung advises clients on corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, private equity, corporate litigation and capital markets. Nadine has experience working with public and private companies, private equity as well as with individual investors. She has advised clients based in Europe, the United States and Canada on various cross border M&A deals. Nadine represents clients in a wide variety of industries, including health care, energy, publishing and transportation. Before joining McDermott, Nadine practiced at leading international law firms in Berlin, Frankfurt and New York City.

Director, Senior Legal Counsel, Team Leader - Corporate and M&A, Robert Bosch LLC

Heather Schroder is Director, Senior Legal Counsel and Team Leader – Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Governance, for Robert Bosch LLC. Ms. Schroder is based out of Robert Bosch GmbH’s North American headquarters in the metro Detroit area.

Prior to joining Bosch in 2014, Ms. Schroder worked as Senior Corporate Counsel at ATMI, Inc., a publicly-traded, microelectronics company in Connecticut; prior to working in-house, Ms. Schroder worked at a law firm in New York City as a Corporate Law Associate.

Partner, Charterhouse Capital Partners

Carsten joined Charterhouse in 2018. He is a Partner in the Deal Team.

He previously spent 13 years in Investcorp’s European private equity team, where he completed several transactions across the industrial, business services and consumer sectors. Prior to this, he worked in the Leveraged Finance Team of J.P. Morgan in London.

Carsten has a Diplom-Kaufmann from the EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht and an MBA from the Katz Graduate School of Business, Pittsburgh. Carsten is fluent in English and German.

Partner, HWF

Philipp leads the Frankfurt office of HWF.

Prior to joining HWF, Philipp spent several years as an attorney with leading international law firms in Germany and the United States and advised German and international clients on all aspects of corporate law, takeover law, and in connection with M&A transactions, in particular with respect to national and cross-border transactions. Additionally, Philipp has been active working on private equity and venture capital transactions over the previous years.

Since moving into the M&A insurance sector Philipp has advised numerous clients and their advisors on a broad range of transactions, with deal values ranging into the several billions.

Investment Director, VTC

Julius started his career at GCA Altium where he was involved in several buy-side and sell-side mandates in retail, industrials and healthcare. In 2015, he joined VTC, where he is today responsible for sourcing and executing transactions. Julius holds Bachelor and Master degrees in International Business from Maastricht University, Netherlands.

Chief Corporate Development Officer, MBCC Group

Norman is a senior executive, board director and experienced private equity professional.

Today he serves as Chief Corporate Development Officer and Group SVP of MBCC Group, one of the leading suppliers of construction chemicals and solutions globally that emerged from the former BASF Construction Chemicals business after its acquisition by an affiliate of Lone Star, a global private equity firm. 

In prior roles, Norman was a CxO and board director in industrial private equity portfolio companies with a track record of transformation and value creation. 

Previously a Managing Director and Group Head in investment banking and capital markets mostly in London, he advised a range of clients on complex M&A, financing and capital markets transactions with an aggregate value of more than €75bn.

Norman is a Swiss and English national, has a background in civil engineering and is a business school graduate of ESB Reutlingen and TUCK at Dartmouth.

Asian Managing Partner, MCDermott Will & Emery, Singapore

Ignatius K. Hwang focuses his practice on energy, infrastructure and resources projects in Asia Pacific and the Middle East, particularly China, India, Southeast Asia and Australia.

He advises governments and sponsors on strategic, procurement, legal, commercial and risk issues relating to public-private partnership projects (PPP). He has represented the Singapore government and agencies on almost all PPP projects in Singapore to date and has helped shape the development of the PPP projects market in Singapore.

Ignatius also advises on the development, acquisition, financing, construction and operation of energy, infrastructure and resources projects. His transactional experience, in particular on acquisitions and project financing, includes deal structuring, due diligence, drafting and negotiation of development, acquisition, fuel supply and power purchase agreements, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts and operation and maintenance (O&M) contracts, as well as financing and security documentation.

Deputy General Manager of International Department, Fosun Pharma Group

Connie He is the Deputy General Manager of the International Department at Fosun Pharma Group, a leading Chinese pharmaceutical group with a global footprint. She leads the international investment at Fosun Pharma. Prior to joining Fosun Pharma, Connie’s career spanned investment banking and private equity, including working in the investment banking and principal investment areas at Natixis and being CEO of a portfolio company’s European business.

Connie holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a B.A. in Professional Accountancy from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is also a Fellow Chartered Certified Accountant.

Managing Director, Co-Lead of the German Turnaround and Restructuring Services, AlixPartners

Dr. Rainer Bizenberger helps large companies navigate the complexities of restructuring and transformation. These clients profit from his expertise in turning around, transforming, or refinancing their businesses. Getting things done is his philosphy. Rainer has more than two decades of professional experience. During this time, he has successfully led large-scale, complex restructuring and transformation programs across various industries, both in advisory and management roles (Chief Restructuring Officer / Chief Restructuring Advisor). His wide-ranging experience with banks and credit insurers effectively helps in the negotiation of complex financing issues. He successfully negotiated and implemented major headcount reduction and portfolio optimization / divestment programs.

Who’s Who Legal recognized Rainer as Global Leader in restructuring and insolvency advisory. He is an active member of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA). Previously, Rainer was heading EY’s Turnaround and Restructuring practice in EMEIA. He also was a Senior Partner and Berlin office head at Roland Berger. Rainer holds a PhD in innovative corporate finance and a master degree from Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt.

Partner, McDermott Will & Emery

Dr. Björn Biehl focuses his practice on corporate restructuring and insolvency, national and international M&A and private equity transactions, joint ventures and on all aspects of general corporate law. He advises both domestic and international clients, and has practiced in both Germany and the United Kingdom. Björn has wide experience in transaction management and advised in various projects, inter alia, with respect to the pharmaceutical and technology-based industries.

Managing Partner, palero capital GmbH

Conny is CFO and responsible for all financing transactions at palero and as Co-Head for the M&A business. She is a specialist in special situations M&A and financing.

For several years, Conny worked for a listed private equity firm as a director in M&A. Prior to that, she worked in investment banking at Drucker & Co. in Frankfurt. Conny studied business administration with a focus on corporate management and finance - at the Leipzig Graduate School of Management, the University of Passau and the University of Otago in New Zealand.

Conference Co-Chair
Partner and Lawyer, McDermott Will & Emery, Munich

Dr. Nikolaus von Jacobs advises private equity funds and German industrial players on private equity, venture capital, and private and public mergers and acquisitions. Nikolaus leads the Firm’s German private equity activities.

Before joining McDermott, Nikolaus was a partner of another international law firm and headed its German private equity practice. He has also worked in investment banking and European capital markets for Merrill Lynch, London.

Partner & Member of the Board of Directors, Jet Investment

Marek is responsible for managing a team of project directors and overseeing their projects. He has been working at Jet Investment since 2010. Previously, he was actively involved in the search for new acquisitions, managing portfolio companies and their exits. He is behind the restructuring of Kord Group and MSV Metal Group. Currently, Marek works as the head of strategy and a member of the board of directors in the portfolio companies Tedom, Kordcarbon, Fiberpreg and EDS Group.

Marek is a graduate of the Technical University in Brno and Nottingham Trent University. He previously worked at Bank Austria Creditanstalt in Prague and at Deutsche Bank in Prague and London.

Director, Trigon, Investment Banking Division

Jan-Philip joined Trigon in 2015 and focuses on TMT transactions in Central & Eastern Europe. Recent noteworthy transactions comprise, among others, the sale of a minority stake in largest CEE classifieds Grupa Pracuj to TCV following a leveraged buy-out of a stake held by Tiger Global; the sale of the largest Polish datacenter, Atman, to GC Infra & Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking; the sale of PGS Software to Waterland & Xebia; SIBS’ acquisition of Wirecard’s Romanian operations; Grupa Pracuj’s IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange as well as the consecutive financing of the acquisition of softgarden from Investcorp; or Carlyle’s acquisition of Memsource.

Trigon advises global & regional financial investors as well as leading entrepreneurs on their strategic projects in the CEE region across sell-side & buy-side M&A, equity capital markets as well as leveraged finance and debt capital markets. The firm has been recognized by Euromoney as “Best Investment Bank in Poland” in 2022, 2020, 2018 and 2017 and advised on transactions with a total value of well over USD 30 billion since inception.

Counsel, McDermott Will & Emery

Jana Grieb specializes in health care and life sciences, with a particular focus on the pharmaceutical and medtech industry.Jana has advised numerous pharmaceutical and medical devices companies in a variety of regulatory issues, transactions and contractual matters across the European Union, and has represented them in litigation with regard to public procurement law, unfair competition and reimbursement by public and private payers.

Prior to joining McDermott, Jana worked for an international law firm and a Munich-based law firm focusing on pharmaceutical law.

Managing Partner, GREENPEAK Partners

Dr. Michael Ruoff is a Managing Partner at GREENPEAK. He has more than 20 years of experience in corporate finance, M&A and private equity. Starting his career as a lawyer, Michael set up a solar plant developer and worked as General Counsel for a distressed investment group and a small-cap private equity fund, before he co-founded a boutique venture capital investor in the healthcare space. Michael joined GREENPEAK Partners in 2020.

Michael holds a doctorate in law and graduated from Munich business school (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität) as Diplom-Kaufmann.

Partner, Delivering Deal Value, PwC Germany

Counsel, McDermott Will & Emery

David A. Cifrino focuses his practice on corporate and transactional matters, primarily representing public and private financial services, industrial, technology, consumer products and other businesses ranging in size from start-ups to Fortune 50 multinationals, in securities, merger, acquisition, disposition, commercial, strategic, governance and executive compensation matters. He also represents clients in public and privately placed equity and debt financings under the Securities Act of 1933 and counsels public companies on the full range of securities compliance issues under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. David is a Senior Fellow in Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative, where he is primarily focused on corporate sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

Counsel, McDermott Will & Emery

Raminta Dereskeviciute focuses her practice on product compliance, trade regulation (sanctions and export controls) and ESG. She has significant experience in advising on EU and UK chemical legislation (REACH), product safety and liability rules and frequently represents clients before the European Chemicals Agency Board of Appeal. Raminta also advises businesses on the implications Brexit has in relation to a range of regulatory compliance issues.

Raminta counsels clients on the EU and the UK sanctions regimes and export controls, including in higher risk jurisdictions such as Russia and Iran. Her experience covers the review and design of compliance programs, including giving training to client teams on controlled goods, prohibited jurisdictions, persons and activities. Raminta assists companies in liaising with regulators when assessing whether their activities are in breach of EU or UK sanctions regimes, or whether authorisations / licenses from the national authorities are appropriate. Raminta has participated as a chair and speaker on sanctions related panels at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime.

Partner, Ambienta

Hans is a Partner at Ambienta. He leads Ambienta in the DACH region and is based in Munich. He joined Ambienta in 2020, bringing over 15 years of private equity experience.

Prior to Ambienta, Hans was a Senior Partner at BC Partners, a leading alternative investment firm with deep roots across Europe. He started his professional career at Goldman Sachs and The Boston Consulting Group.

Hans holds a degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Vice President, Public Affairs & Sustainability, Pirelli Tire North America

Maureen Kline is Vice President, Public Affairs and Sustainability for Pirelli Tire North America, responsible for the US, Canada and Mexico. She is based in Rome, Georgia, USA.

She is a board member of the US Tire Manufacturers Association and the Tire and Rubber Association of Canada. She is on the Corporate Responsibility Steering Committee of the Automotive Industry Action Group, and on the ISSB Technical Reference Group (formerly the Standards Advisory Group of SASB). She is on the board of the Public Affairs Council, where she co-chairs a Social Impact Committee.

She writes a column on sustainability for www.Inc.com and is a frequent speaker on the topic. She teaches a course on Enterprise Sustainability within Clarkson University’s MS in Engineering Management program.

Previously she was based in Pirelli’s headquarters in Milan, Italy, where she coordinated government affairs for the company’s international subsidiaries, and before that was responsible for Pirelli’s international media relations.

Prior to her public affairs and communications career, Maureen worked as a journalist over a 15-year period. She was Milan correspondent for the Wall Street Journal Europe, Breaking Views, and Business Week, among others. She edited a blog on the topic of meritocracy, hosted by Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. She wrote and co-hosted a TV talk show in Italy on business and finance, broadcast on the local channel Telelombardia.

Maureen Kline holds a Bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics. She lived in Italy for over 20 years, working in the communications, public affairs and legal fields, and holds dual US-Italian citizenship.

She is a co-chair of the inaugural board of Yale Blue Green, the shared interest group for Yale alumni interested in environmental and sustainability issues and action.

Partner, Head Gimv Germany, Smart Industries, Germany

Ronald Bartel is Partner in the Smart Industries platform and represents Gimv as a Board member in the portfolio company Arplas, Laser 2000, Smart Battery Solutions, WDM-Deutenberg and Variotech.

Prior to joining Gimv in 2015 he has worked at different companies in the power transmission as well as materials handling industries. In his last position he was Global Director at Columbus McKinnon Corporation, where he was heading and developing the newly established Motion Technology Business Unit with its brands Pfaff-silberblau and Duff-Norton. Before that Ronald was Sales Director at Flender for Industrial Drive Applications preceded by an engagement at Demag Cranes, here amongst others for five years in Shanghai as Deputy General Manager of its Chinese operations developing in the early 2000’s the company’s footprint in a very dynamically growing market.

Ronald holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Hannover and an Executive MBA from Rutgers, New Jersey.

Founder & Managing Partner, Berlin Global Advisors

Jan Friedrich Kallmorgen is BGA’s founder and Managing Partner, combining a background in finance, foreign policy and public affairs. He advises clients on geopolitical and public policy issues that impact business strategies, capital markets and transactions. Prior to BGA, he worked at the World Bank, Goldman Sachs, the European Group for Investor Protection, the German Council on Foreign Relations and Interel, a global public affairs consultancy. Jan founded and chairs the non-profit think tank Atlantic Initiative and is a member of Atlantik-Bruecke, the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany, the CDU Business Council as well as an alumnus of various Young Leader Programs.

He holds masters’ degrees in history and international relations from the Freie Universität Berlin and Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.

Counsel, McDermott Will & Emery

Dr. Germar Enders focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), private equity and general corporate law. Germar has extensive experience in advising strategic and financial investors as well as management teams on domestic, cross-border and multi-jurisdictional transactions, and on all aspects of corporate law, including corporate structurings.

Prior to joining McDermott, Germar worked at other leading international law firms in the field of corporate/M&A and as assistant professor at the Max-Planck-Institute and the University of Munich. During his legal clerkship, he trained in Cologne and New York. He regularly publishes articles on matters of corporate and civil law, including in legal reference books and commentaries.

Managing Partner, SGP Corporate Finance

Nicolas is a managing partner at SGP Schneider Geiwitz M&A practice and focuses on growth/ private equity as well as on distressed/ special situations in buy- and sellside transactions.

Before joining SGP in 2019, Nicolas was Managing Director at CFI Group - Corporate Finance International and Helbling Business Advisors with a focus on small/ midcap technology and industrial transactions. Nicolas has co-led CFI’s worldwide IT services and software sector and was an active member of the business services team.

Prior to CFI, Nicolas was Partner at CAPEO and worked as Head of M&A at Buchanan Capital Group. He started his investment banking career at Doertenbach in 1997.

Director, Family Trust Investor

Friedrich Wallwitz is an investment director and has been active in the investment business since 2018. Prior to Family Trust, he was an investor for Gimv NV and an M&A advisor focusing on succession situations for Edmond de Rothschild and PMB Capital, guiding family-owned companies through a change of ownership. He began his career at J.P. Morgan as a commodities trader.
 
Friedrich holds an LL.M. Law & economics from the Universities of Hamburg, Rotterdam and UC Berkeley, an M.A. Christian Theology from the University of London, as well as a B.A. Economics & International Relations from Lancaster University.

Partner, McDermott Will & Emery

Dr. Oliver K. Hahnelt, LLM is a partner in the Frankfurt office of McDermott Will & Emery Rechtsanwälte Steuerberater LLP who advises clients on all aspects of debt finance transactions both domestically and internationally. He focuses in particular on counseling financial institutions, private equity sponsors and other investors, credit/debt funds and corporate clients on acquisition finance (leveraged buyouts, including recapitalizations), corporate finance (corporate lending, including refinancings) and structured finance.

In addition to advising on transactions on a global scale, Oliver completed studies in Germany and the US, including the LL.M. program at Madison law school, Wisconsin and the Executive Education Program at Harvard Law School, Cambridge).

Managing Partner, ELF Capital Group

Christian Fritsch is the Founding Partner of ELF Capital Group, which specializes in providing private capital solutions to ‘Mittelstand’ and small to medium size companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as the UK, Benelux and Scandinavia. Christian has more than 25 years of experience in the European Private Capital markets having worked at Doughty Hanson and Cerberus Capital as well as Anchorage Capital in both London and Frankfurt. Before founding ELF Capital Group, Christian Fritsch was a senior partner at ESO.

Managing Partner, Herter & Co.

Paul Kim has more than 20 years of experience in financing, capital markets and M&A.

He has been Managing Partner of Herter & Co. since 2012 being mainly responsible for the Financial Sponsors related business. Before that he held senior positions in Leverage Finance and Sponsor Coverage at IKB Deutsche Industriebank, Augusta & Co. Merchant Bankers and Dresdner Kleinwort Investment Banking in London and Frankfurt.

Investment Director, Bright Capital

Alexander is an Investment Director at Bright Capital, as such he is responsible for origination and the execution of the investment process. Before joining Bright Capital in 2014, Alexander worked as an Investment Analyst for a Munich-based deal-by-deal investor. Previously, he founded and ran his own start-up company and worked for the Family Office Watermark Global in Frankfurt. Alexander holds an M.Sc. in International Business from the University of Maastricht.

Managing Director, PATEV

Edelbert Häfele is CEO of PATEV Associates GmbH & Co.KG, a European Market leader in Valuation of transfer related IP Assets like Patents and Know-how. In person he is also a sworn expert at the Chamber of Commerce in Munich for court related litigations.

Partner, Advisory, PwC Germany

Rainer Jäger has more than 24 years of experience in transaction consulting and business valuation. He has specialized in the area of strategic brand management and valuation of intangible assets and has successfully worked for well-known clients from the automotive, tourism, retail and consumer goods industries.

Partner, McDermott Will & Emery

Nina Siewert focuses on German tax law. She advises clients on domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and real estate investments in all aspects related to structuring negotiation and documentation. She has firsthand knowledge of the structuring of funds and debt instruments, and considerable experience in tax matters relating to financings, including leveraged and real estate financings, and structured finance instruments.

Prior to joining the Firm, Nina was a counsel in the tax department in other international law firms. She is admitted as a German chartered tax advisor (Steuerberaterin).

Founder and Managing Director, Green Sentinel Capital

Thomas is a successful entrepreneur and business owner active in multiple sectors. As Managing Director of the group he works closely together with all of our portfolio companies. Prior to founding Green Sentinel Capital he gained significant experience in the private equity sector while working at Deutsche Beteiligungs AG and Deloitte.

Managing Partner, Fernbrook Capital Management LLC

Bill Detwiler is a founding Managing Partner of Fernbrook Capital Management LLC, a New York-based investment firm. Fernbrook invests in revenue-stage Software, Marketplace, Ecommerce companies in North America, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.

Prior to Fernbrook, Bill was a mergers & acquisitions attorney and an entrepreneur who built two successful merchant banks. He also was the Chief Investment Officer of United Safety Ltd., an international energy safety services company with offices in Houston, Calgary, and Abu Dhabi. Bill started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Partner, EMERAM Capital Partners

Sven Oleownik has extensive experience in Management Consulting and M&A Advisory as well as in the Private Equity business. In addition, he was repeatedly assigned as a supervisory board member of various family-owned businesses. As such, he also trains supervisory board member as part of the Deutsche Börse qualification program.

He already financed his studies as a shareholder in a trade fair construction company, which he founded jointly with two other partners. After graduating, he began his professional career at an investment company financed by family offices. In the context of new investments and the support of portfolio companies, he also became Managing Director of a portfolio company active in the field of manufacturing industrial goods. He then spent nine years at Dr. Wieselhuber & Partner, a leading management consultancy focused on the advisory of family-owned companies, ultimately as a partner and member of the management board. Sven mainly led projects in the field of strategic development, restructuring, buy and build projects up to the integration of new acquisitions, their financing up to IPOs as well as changes of shareholders and succession. For further twelve years he was Managing Partner of Corporate Finance Advisory at Deloitte in Munich. His sector focus was primarily on consumer goods and technology companies as well as private equity. Before joining Emeram, for seven years he headed the German office of Gimv, an international private equity firm listed on the stock exchange in Brussels, building up its team and investment business in DACH.

Partner, McDermott Will & Emery

Dr. Stephan Rau focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions and regulatory advice in the health and life science sector. He is the head of the Firm’s Health Law Practice Group in Europe.

In 2004, Stephan was adviser on the foundation of the first German corporate medical center. Since then he has represented numerous investors, health care service providers, pharmaceutical and medtech companies, as well as governmental entities in M&A transactions, outsourcing projects, and licensing and reimbursement proceedings.
Stephan speaks regularly at health care and life sciences industry as well as legal expert conferences, both at an international and national level. He is the author of numerous publications on German corporate law, health care and life sciences regulation.

Partner, capiton AG 

Fritjof Franz is Partner of capiton AG. Before joining capiton in 2018, he worked for several years as Head of Global M&A and Licensing for the listed Paul Hartmann Group, as well as several years for a private equity investor, a management consultancy and as a lawyer in the field of M&A and restructuring. Mr Franz is a certified lawyer and holds a LL.M. in M&A from Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and a MBA from IE Business School in Madrid.

Director, DPE Deutsche Private Equity

Franz Reiffenstuel is a Director at DPE Deutsche Private Equity, covering the healthcare services space in the DACH region. Before moving to DPE in 2019, Franz Reiffenstuel gained 10 years’ experience in the field of private equity, most recently at Chequers Capital and before that at AEA Investors. He has supported a wide range of transactions at German SMEs in the healthcare, medical products and business services sectors, with a strong focus on buy & build strategies. Mr. Reiffenstuel started his career in M&A at Citi. He studied at ESB Reutlingen and at Reims Management School.

Partner, McDermott Will & Emery

Dr. Nadine Hartung advises clients on corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, private equity, corporate litigation and capital markets. Nadine has experience working with public and private companies, private equity as well as with individual investors. She has advised clients based in Europe, the United States and Canada on various cross border M&A deals. Nadine represents clients in a wide variety of industries, including health care, energy, publishing and transportation. Before joining McDermott, Nadine practiced at leading international law firms in Berlin, Frankfurt and New York City.

Rechtsanwalt und Attorney-at-Law (New York), EGO HUMRICH WYEN

Senior Case Manager, Head of Munich Office, Nivalion AG

Falco Kreis is Senior Case Manager and heads Nivalion’s Munich office. Before joining Nivalion, he worked at the international law firm CMS in Germany where he gained experience as counsel in international arbitration and state court proceedings, as tribunal secretary, and as arbitrator. During this time, Falco advised and represented clients in a wide array of disputes, especially in the automotive, healthcare, IT, and telecommunications sectors. Falco studied at the Universities of Erlangen-Nuremberg and Cork (Ireland) and is a trained mediator (MuCDR).