2021 Cross-Border M&A and Private Equity Virtual Conference

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.

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.

Senior Advisor, Speaker, Author and Non-Executive Board Member

Janina Kugel is senior advisor, speaker, author and non-executive board member of Konecranes Oyj, Finland, TUI AG, Germany and the German Pension Benefit Guaranty Association.

Prior to this, she has been Chief Human Resources Officer and a member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG.

Janina holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Mainz, Germany, and the University of Verona, Italy and started her career as a management consultant at Accenture.

Janina Kugel is an active supporter of various national and international diversity initiatives. She is also a member of the international Advisory Board of Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany and IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. She is serving as board member at the Innovation Council of the Federal Ministry of Digitization.

In April 2021, Janina released her first book “It’s Now”.

Partner and Lawyer, McDermott Will & Emery
Moderator

Managing Director, NORD Holding

Andreas has been active in the international private equity industry for more than 20 years. He started his career at 3i. Since 2000 he was responsible for leading and setting up private equity investment teams in the small-mid market segment and for over Euro 2bn of invested capital. He assisted portfolio companies during their transformation and growth phase and exited several of them in international IPOs and trade sales. In May 2018 Andreas was appointed managing director of NORD Holding, an asset manager with over 2bn Euro of AUM where he focuses on transformational investments in the German-speaking region.

Managing Director, Chairman of the Management Board, CEO Germany, Lincoln International

Michael Drill provides overall strategic and operational leadership for Lincoln International’s activities in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Benelux region. He principals the procurement and management of clients, leads deal teams and recruits qualified personnel.

In addition to his operational roles within the firm, Michael is passionate about mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Germany. He has 25 years of experience advising on M&A, public takeovers, fairness opinions and corporate divestitures. His clients are comprised of large corporations as well as mid-sized privately-owned businesses and leading private equity groups. Michael brings global, cross-border expertise to his projects, helping clients navigate the increasing complexity of transactions, and creating a comprehensive deal experience.

Partner, HWF
 
Philipp leads the Frankfurt office of HWF Partners.

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.

PE Leader Germany & EMEA, PwC

Steve joined PwC in the UK in 1993, and qualified as an ACA in 1996. He joined the Transaction Services team in January 1997 and has worked exclusively within the M&A field since that date.

Having primarily worked on cross border transactions during his time in the UK, he transferred to the Frankfurt office in July 2001 where he has focused upon serving the private equity market and was promoted to partner in July 2005.

Since 2012 Steve leads the PwC Private Equity Industry for PwC Germany and since 2020 he also leads the PwC Private Equity Industry for the EMEA region. With a wide exposure to various industries advising on both the buy-side and sell-side, Steve has significant experience in large cross border deals for private equity and corporate clients.

Head of Corporate Development and Group Communications, MeinAuto Group AG

Thessa studied business administration at Saarland University. After working in strategy consulting and in Private Equity at Silverfleet Capital in Munich, Thessa took over the management of the executive staff of UniCredit Bank AG.

Thessa held a position as Head of HR Strategy at Deutsche Börse AG before joining MeinAuto Group AG in Munich as Head of Corporate Development and Group Communications in 2021.

Partner, McDermott Will & Emery, Munich

Moderator

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.

Managing Director, Serafin Group

Philipp Haindl completed his studies at the London School of Economics with a master’s of economic history. He started his career as an associate at KPMG in the audit department before moving on to corporate finance valuation services. Before founding Serafin, Mr. Haindl was active in business analysis and acquisitions for five years and was involved in numerous M&A transactions. Mr. Haindl is responsible for strategy and finance within the Serafin Group.

Investment Director, VTC GmbH & Co. KG

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.

Managing Director, ORM Bergold Chemie

Cornelius Oheimb is a Managing Director of Safetykleen and also Managing Director of its chemical division Orm Bergold.
Safetykleen is the leading surface and parts cleaning company in Europe and an APAX portfolio company.

Prior to his position with Safetykleen Cornelius has managed for over 10 years portfolio companies of private equity investors e.g. Findos and Gruenwald Equity in the field of technical service industries. 

Cornelius has studied at The University of Buckingham and London School of Economics. He holds a BSc and MSC in Business Studies and further executive education from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Partner, Head of Germany, GIMV Germany

Dr. Sven Oleownik joined Gimv, a public listed European private equity and venture capital company, in 2015. Before that, Dr. Oleownik headed Deloitte’s Corporate Finance Advisory Team as a managing partner for 12 years. His clients at Deloitte included large corporations (e.g., BASF, Deutsche Telekom, Lufthansa, Siemens and Volkswagen), private equity firms (e.g., Apax, Carlyle, Emeram, EQT, Hannover Finanz, Riverside) and medium-sized companies (e.g., Bionade, Jochen Schweizer, Frequentis, MEN and Runnerspoint). He has key expertise in the consumer/retail and technology sectors. Prior to working for Deloitte, Dr. Oleownik was a partner at a leading management consulting firm and at a medium-sized investment company. In the course of his professional career, he has guided more than 100 transactions, among them several IPOs, and served as a member of the board for various companies. Dr. Oleownik represents Gimv on the board of Think-step and Wemas.

Partner, McDermott Will & Emery, Munich

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 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.

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.

Certified Public Accountant, Certified Tax Advisor, Managing Partner,
SGP Schneider Geiwitz & Partner

Arndt Geiwitz is managing partner of the SGP Schneider Geiwitz group of corporate law firms. He graduated from the University of Passau and holds a degree in economics. As Certified Public Accountant and Certified Tax Advisor he has spent more than 20 years as an auditor and tax consultant in the field of corporate restructuring. His main areas of expertise as an advisor of medium-sized enterprises are risk management, strategy, business succession, and M&A. He supports many out-of-court restructurings and advises companies in major insolvency proceedings as general representative. Since 2000 he has been appointed by courts as insolvency administrator and since 2012 as trustee.

Managing Director, Partner, Helbling Business Advisors

For almost 20 years, Jan-Erik Gürtner has advised companies on strategically important decisions with a focus on restructuring, corporate finance, M&A and strategy development. In addition, he has accompanied numerous refinancing and earnings enhancement programs in the upper midmarket. His industry focus is on the automotive, mechanical and plant engineering, construction and construction supply industries as well as metal, wood and textile processing industries.

He graduated in economics from Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf and completed a management program at Harvard Business School.

Chief Revenue Officer EMEA, Datasite

Merlin Piscitelli is Chief Revenue Officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Datasite.

In his role, Merlin is responsible for setting and managing the sales strategy and its deployment across this diverse and complex region, including coordinating and managing teams and sales representatives across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He is based in London.

Merlin has been driving the M&A digital transformation in EMEA since joining Datasite in 2006. He has served in several leadership roles within the organization, including Head of Sales, Europe, Middle East and Africa and Director of Sales, helping drive technological innovation and deal velocity across the region.

Prior to joining Datasite, Merlin served as a sales and business development professional for Infotrieve, now part of Copyright Clearance Center, a global licensing technology content solutions business and document delivery provider.

Merlin holds a BS in Business/Marketing from Florida State University.

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.

Partner, Head of the Health Law Practice Group in Europe, McDermott Will & Emery, Munich

Dr. Stephan Rau focuses his practice on M&A transactions, mainly in the health and life sciences sector; health care regulation, including with regard to academic organisations; and related compliance. He is head of the Firm’s Health Law Practice Group in Europe. In 2004, Dr. Rau was an adviser on the foundation of the first German corporate medical centre. Since then he has represented numerous investors, health care service providers, pharmaceutical and medtech companies, and governmental entities in M&A transactions, outsourcing projects, and licensing and reimbursement proceedings.

Managing Director and Partner, PwC Strategy&

Marcus Bauer is Managing Director at Strategy&, the global strategy consulting team within the PricewaterhouseCoopers network. He advises clients in the healthcare space and Governments for over 20 years. He also serves as Senior Executive Advisor to financial and corporate investors, supporting strategy development and value creation with health sector players along the entire value chain, predominantly innovative providers, payors, medtechs and intermediaries. Marcus’ international experience is based on various M&A and deals involvements along large-ticket transactions, buy-side and sell-side due diligences, scale-up programs and post-merger integrations. He and his team of experts also support large health reform and Government transformation programs.   

Marcus Bauer studied Business Administration and Economics at WHU Koblenz (Germany), Ecole Supérieure de Commerce Reims (France), Queens University Kingston (Canada) and attended Public Policy Studies in the Washington Campus Program at Georgetown University Washington D.C. (U.S.)

CEO & Co-Founder, TeleClinic

Katharina Jünger is CEO and Co-Founder of TeleClinic GmbH. Founded in 2015, TeleClinic is the No1 platform for online doctor visits including digital prescriptions and sick-notes in Germany.

Prior to this, Katharina studied law at the Humboldt University and Humboldt European Law School in Berlin and holds an Honors Degree in Technology Management.

She is listed on the 2020 list of “Forbes Europe 30 under 30” and “40 under 40”.

Managing Director and Owner, KIRINUS Health

Ludwig Klitzsch (born 1978) is Managing Director and owner of KIRINUS Health, a family-run healthcare group in Bavaria with a focus on psychosomatics. Anna Klitzsch laid the foundation in 1962 with the founding of today's KIRINUS Alpenpark Klinik in Bad Wiessee. Ludwig Klitzsch is her grandson and has continued to run the company in the third family generation since 2007.

After studying economics at the University of St. Gallen and the École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris (HEC), he initially held various positions at Fresenius HELIOS, Wittgensteiner Kliniken and MediClin AG.

Since 2019, he has been leading the Association of Psychosomatic Hospitals and Hospital Departments in Germany e.V. (VPKD) as first chairman.

Partner, McDermott Will & Emery, London

Sharon advises on global transactional mandates, including mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures in health services, pharma and life sciences, digital health and health data technologies.

Sharon also provides strategic, regulatory and commercial support to UK and international clients on UK health and life sciences with a focus on health services, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, digital health and health data. Sharon is widely recognized for her expertise on NHS and public law regulatory and contracting matters, including payment and reimbursement and market access. She works closely with international technology and life sciences companies on regulatory issues relating to pharmaceuticals, medical devices, digital health and health data protection. She has particular experience advising strategic and private equity investors in transactions and investments in health and life sciences.

Sharon is also well-versed in health care services governance and regulatory matters, NHS public private partnerships, procurements, joint ventures and shared working arrangements, mergers, acquisitions, health data and competition issues.

Managing Partner, GREENPEAK Management

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.