Carsten Brzeski Chief Economist ING Germany

Carsten Brzeski is Chief Economist in Germany. He covers economic and political developments in Germany and the Eurozone, including the monetary policy of the ECB. Previously, he has worked at ABN Amro, the Dutch Ministry of Finance and the European Commission. Carsten has studied at the Free University of Berlin, Northeastern University in Boston and Harvard University in Cambridge, USA.

Jochen Schönfelder Managing Director & Partner Boston Consulting Group

Jochen Schönfelder leads The Boston Consulting Group’s Cologne office and is a member of BCG’s Consumer, Corporate Development, Industrial Goods, and Transformation practices. He is an expert with BCG TURN, which helps clients deliver rapid, visible performance improvements in the short term while strengthening their organizations and positioning them to win in the future.

Since joining BCG in 2014, Jochen’s client work has focused on the automotive, technical and engineered products, and renewable energy sectors. He has acquired deep experience in restructuring and turnaround management.

Prior to joining BCG, Jochen was a partner at Roland Berger.

Wolfgang Felix Founder Sarria

Wolfgang has 21 years of experience in high yield, leveraged loans, distressed debt, re structuring, and special situations investment management and research. Until recently, Wolfgang has been partner and senior portfolio manager of Wiltshire Capital, managing funds under the brands of Wiltshire and City Financial. 

Formerly Team Leader at CQS for European Distressed and Value Opportunities, and responsible for European special opportunities at Marathon Asset Management, he has consistently generated client profits and lead a series of successful cross-border restructurings and re-financings. Faced with a lack of opportunities, he liquidated most of his book in early 2008, preserving client capital.

Prior to 2005, Wolfgang was Vice President for the Deutsche Bank Distressed Products Group in London, Europe’s largest distressed desk in the last cycle, and associate at Alvarez & Marsal, where early on he had specialised as interims manager in corporate restructuring and hands-on operational turnaround. 

He began his career at KPMG in Germany. Wolfgang is a German national, speaks German, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, holds a BA (hons) from EBS London and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Gesche Basile Head of Sourcing Triton

Prior to joining, Gesche worked for Cohen and Company Financial Limited in London, where she was Managing Director and Head of European Sourcing. Before that, Gesche held positions at Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers in London and Merrill Lynch in Frankfurt where she focused on distressed debt sourcing. She also worked for Norddeutsche Landesbank, Hanover, in International Restructuring, as well as for KPMG Restructuring Advisory in Frankfurt. She holds an MBA from Henley Management College and a degree in Cultural Studies and Linguistics from Johannes-Gutenberg University. 

Oliver Kehren Managing Director Morgan Stanley

Oliver Kehren is a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley in London and Head of EMEA SSG.  Activities include acquisitions/trading of distressed debt as part of portfolio and single name transactions and the restructuring/-financing  of distressed corporate and sovereign situations.  Oliver has extensive experience in export-/project-financing, corporate finance and financial restructurings.  He is Co-Chairman of the board of Gesellschaft für Restrukturierung TMA Deutschland e.V., an author of several publications on financial restructurings and a guest lecturer at several Universities.

Hauke Burkhardt Managing Director | Global Head of Lending Deutsche Bank

Head of Trade Finance & Lending DACH und Global Co-Head of Lending, Deutsche Bank AG

Based in Frankfurt, Hauke Burkhardt is leading the global corporate lending business of the Corporate Bank since October 2019. Since June 2022 he is also Head of Trade Finance & Lending DACH. At the same time he is a member of the Corporate Bank Germany Executive Committee, the Global Trade Finance & Lending Executive Committee as well as different Supervisory and Investor Boards.

Hauke Burkhardt joined Deutsche Bank in 2007 and held leadership positions in various Trade Finance and Lending areas.

Mr. Burkhardt holds a Diploma degree from the University of Cooperative Education in Stuttgart, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany and is an alumnus of the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius.

Dr Rainer Bizenberger Managing Director AlixPartners

Rainer has more than two decades of professional experience. He helps large companies navigate the complexities of restructuring and transformation, and those clients profit from his expertise in turning around, transforming, or refinancing their businesses.

Rainer 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 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, he was heading EY’s Turnaround and Restructuring practice in EMEIA and was a Senior Partner and Berlin office head at Roland Berger. Rainer has a PhD in innovative corporate finance and a master degree from Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt.

Daniel Judenhahn Partner PwC

Daniel runs our restructuring office in Frankfurt, Germany and leads the debt & capital advisory business within PwC's transaction and restructuring practice. He advises corporates, shareholders, creditors, and investors in raising, refinancing, and restructuring capital in takeover and special situations. Previously, Daniel spent more than 11 years working for Dresdner Kleinwort and Commerzbank where he focused on leverage buyouts, takeovers and turnarounds across Europe.

Daniel holds an MBA from London Business School.

Dr. Daniel Splittgerber Counsel Latham & Watkins

Dr. Daniel Splittgerber represents clients in complex financial restructurings and distressed situations.

Mr. Splittgerber advises:

• Creditors in complex financial restructurings
• Companies and management in a financial or operational crisis or in a corporate reorganization
• Investors on the acquisition of distressed assets

His experience includes: 

• Out-of-court restructurings 
• Insolvency proceedings
• Rescue financing or refinancing transactions
• Distressed M&A
• Debt-to-equity transactions

Mr. Splittgerber regularly publishes on insolvency law and topical issues on the restructuring market. He also maintains an active pro bono practice, serves on the firm’s Pro Bono Committee and is a board member of Pro Bono Deutschland e.V., an association for the promotion of pro bono legal advice for non-profit and non-governmental organizations and projects in Germany.

Maria Holzhammer Senior Associate Latham & Watkins

Maria Holzhammer is an associate in the London office of Latham & Watkins and a member of the Finance Department. 

Ms. Holzhammer has experience acting for various stakeholders including private equity sponsors, corporations, and financial institutions on a range of domestic and cross-border finance transactions and has advised on restructuring matters, bilateral and syndicated financings and re-financings, asset and acquisition financings, and a range of capital market transactions including liability management matters.

Samy Walleyo Partner PwC

Samy is Partner with PwC and heading our Delivery Deal Value unit in Germany. He is focused on delivering the deal value through international and multi-disciplinary integration, carve-out and value creation projects.

Samy graduated from Ruprecht-Karls-University in Heidelberg and holds a diploma in Economics.

He is a native German speaker, fluent in English and intermediate skills in Spanish.

Dr. Stefan Widder Partner Latham & Watkins

Dr. Stefan Widder is a partner advising on all aspects of M&A and private equity transactions.

Mr. Widder has 20 years of experience advising strategic as well as financial investors on all aspects of domestic and cross-border M&A transactions, including:

• leveraged buy-outs
• auctions and proprietary transactions
• carve-outs
• joint ventures
• minority transactions
• distressed M&A

He regularly speaks and writes on M&A and corporate law topics and has published more than 60 articles in leading publications.

Dr. Thomas Cobet Director AlixPartners

Thomas has more than 15 years experience primarily in the Energy sector. Thomas provides clients with relevant consulting know-how in all major areas of the financial sphere on both the operational and the financing sides. He also has substantial expertise in conducting industrial M&A activities as well as in implementing and sustaining robust risk management and internal control systems. Thomas has held various leadership positions, both in a large German industrial conglomerate and in a German midcap company, combining leading roles in large and complex projects with senior line management functions that included full profit-and-loss responsibility. Previously, he was a consultant in Roland Berger’s restructuring and corporate finance practice. Thomas has a PhD in Philosophy as well as a master’s degree in Business Administration from Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg.

Frank Grell Partner Latham & Watkins

Frank Grell helps clients navigate distressed situations related to restructuring or insolvency. He chairs the German Restructuring & Special Situations Practice and served as Local Department Chair of the German Finance Department. Mr. Grell has earned a strong reputation from clients and leading publications for his empathetic approach and ability to craft pragmatic and commercial solutions in high-pressure or crisis situations.

Mr. Grell advises: 

• Companies, management, and shareholders in a financial or operational crisis 
• Creditors in all phases of financial restructurings, including debt-equity swaps, share pledge enforcements, and insolvency plan proceedings 
• Investors on the acquisition of distressed companies and on restructuring, rescue financing, or refinancing transactions, including debt-equity swaps 
• Insolvency administrators on M&A, restructurings, or disputes
• Complementing his transactional work, he also represents parties in claw-back and liability cases

Mr. Grell is a board member of TMA Germany e.V. and of Norddeutsches Insolvenzforum e.V. (Insolvency Forum of Northern Germany).

He regularly speaks and writes about insolvency and restructuring matters.

Michael Baur Managing Director AlixPartners

Michael is an experienced business advisor and executive manager of corporate restructurings and performance improvement programs. Prior to joining AlixPartners, he was chief operating officer and chief financial officer of stock-quoted European media group Edel AG. Before that, he was a partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants in the firm's competence center restructuring practiced. He started his career in the audit and corporate finance department of Arthur Andersen & Co. in Munich. Michael has a bachelor's degree from the University Of Regensburg.

Daniel Heine Co-Founder, Managing Director, Private Debt Division Patrimonium

Daniel Heine is a co-founder of Patrimonium and Managing Director of the company’s Private Debt division. Prior to the company’s formation he worked as a Financial Consultant for Merrill Lynch International and before that, as a management consultant at A.T. Kearney. He studied Business Administration at the University of St. Gallen and received a Master of Arts from the University of Oxford. He also holds a Ph.D. of the University of St. Gallen.