Mergermarket M&A Forum Switzerland 2023
The Dolder Grand, Zurich
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Paul is the Chief Economist of UBS Global Wealth Management. He is a member of the Global Investment Committee, and (despite being told to stop studying art at the age of twelve) sits on the UBS Art Board. He is a UBS Opinion Leader, and a member of UBS Pride. He participates in the UBS Nobel Perspectives program and is a supporter of the UBS Women in Economics program.
Paul is responsible for developing and presenting the UBS economic outlook, marketing the UBS view on economics, policy and politics around the world. He regularly appears in the print and broadcast media, and is a reluctant Tweeter on economic issues. Paul started at UBS Investment Bank as an intern in 1992, and was Global Economist before moving to Global Wealth Management in August 2016.
Paul has an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University. He is an Honorary Fellow of St Anne’s College, Oxford, sitting on its investment committee, and is a member of the Vice-Chancellor’s Circle of Oxford. He holds an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London. Paul sits on the Research Advisory Board of Open for Business, and is part of the World Economic Forum’s Chief Economists’ Community. Paul is also a co-founder of the Peter Culverhouse Memorial Trust (a cancer research and patient care charity). He is an amateur heavyweight boxer, plays at being a farmer (with sheep, apples, and pears), and is a keen skier.
Paul co-authored “From Red to Green? How the financial credit crunch could bankrupt the environment” with Julie Hudson, published in August 2011. “Food Policy and the Environmental Credit Crunch: From Soup to Nuts”, also co-authored with Julie, was published in September 2013. Paul contributed to “How the world really works: the economy”, a children’s guide to economics published in May 2014. His book "The Truth About Inflation" was published in April 2015, with a Spanish language version published in September 2018. His latest book "Profit and Prejudice: The Luddites of the Fourth Industrial Revolution" looking at the increasing economic risks arising from prejudice was published in November 2020.
Björn Lauschke has been with Capvis since 2012. Prior to joining Capvis, Björn was a Director in the debt advisory division of DC Advisory Partners and with The Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse and WestLB in the structured finance division.
Björn is Head of Debt Advisory and responsible for all debt financing in the Capvis portfolio.
He studied business administration at the University of Mannheim, Germany with a Dipl.-Kfm. Degree.
Brice Bolinger is a Managing Director of UBS and Head of M&A Switzerland, based in Zurich. He joined Credit Suisse (now part of UBS) in 2008 from Novartis, where he worked in the Corporate M&A team. Brice started his career at UBS in 2004 in the Swiss Investment Banking team. Brice has been involved in some of the largest Swiss M&A transactions and has broad experience ranging from public M&A deals to complex carve-out transactions. He graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) with a M.Sc. in industrial engineering and business administration with highest distinction. Brice is a CFA charterholder.
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.
Christian Waldvogel has been a Managing Partner of Renaissance Management SA since 2003.
Besides he is a board member of the swiss export association and the Society for Economic Research (Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Konjunkturforschung) which supports the Konjunkturforschungsstelle (KOF) of ETH-Zurich.
He has operational and managerial experience at an international level in investments (Intel Capital), semi-conductors (Intel) and telecoms (Eutelsat).
Christian Waldvogel holds a doctorate from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, and a Bachelor of Science and Engineering from the University of Princeton.
Felix Werdin is a Partner at Bregal Unternehmerkapital. He previously served as an Associate at JPMorgan and, most recently, as a Principal at TowerBrook Capital Partners in London.
Felix is a graduate in Business Administration and holds an MBA from the University of Mannheim and ESSEC Business School.
Florian Widmer is Head of Cybersecurity for the Pictet Group, an international private bank and asset manager based in Geneva. totalling around USD 700 billion assets under management and 6000 employees. In his capacity, Florian is leading the cybersecurity operations, engineering and architecture units for the Group. He’s also regularly involved in cyber incident response and due diligence of third parties.
Before joining Pictet 5 years ago, Florian assumed several cybersecurity-related roles in another global private bank.
Giovanna is a Partner at Altor Equity Partners in Zurich. She focuses on mid-market investments in the DACH region. Her recent investments are family-owned industrial services company Kaefer and life science process engineering company VTU. Giovanna has c15 years of investment and portfolio management experience in the DACH Mittelstand. Prior to joining Altor in 2018, she worked at 3i in Germany. She started her career in M&A at Morgan Stanley and strategy consulting at McKinsey & Company in London and Frankfurt. Giovanna is a member of Invest Europe Mid-Market Platform Council.
Isabella Eichler is a Director at Altor Equity Partners focused on investments in the DACH region and passionate about decarbonization and digitalization. She previously spent time at Rivean Capital Partners and at Rothschild & Co in London and Singapore. Isabella looks after Altor’s DACH investments in Oceansapart and KAEFER
Prior to joining Muzinich, Kirsten worked for six years as a Managing Director in the principal debt investing team at Macquarie, responsible for sourcing and executing transactions ranging from leveraged senior, unitranche and mezzanine debt to equity in the U.K., Germany and Benelux. Previously, she worked for Silver Point Capital, a U.S. based credit/distressed fund, in the private debt team in Europe. Kirsten started her career at Morgan Stanley in 1999, working in the generalist M&A and Leveraged Finance teams in Germany and London. Kirsten graduated from ESB Reutlingen and Middlesex University London with a B.A. Honors in European Business Administration.
Kristin joined Swiss IT Security Group in 2019 and has since then executed various successful add-on acquisitions, as well as the secondary buyout of Swiss IT Security Group. She has an extensive track record in M&A, working in M&A advisory as well as Corporate M&A in Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich.
Kristin holds Degrees in Economics and Management from University of Reutlingen and Zeppelin University.”
Leading Board adviser on over $100bn M&A deals and $20bn capital raisings. Creating stakeholder value by originating strategic opportunities for industry transformation & growth. Asian, European and American markets. Biotech, healthcare, technology, communications, industrials, chemicals, agriculture and financial services.
Markus Wetter is heading the Equity Capital Markets team for Switzerland. In this role, Markus originates, structures and executes bespoke equity, equity-linked and equity derivative transactions for corporate, sponsor and wealth management clients.
While based in Zurich, Markus also spent time in UBS’ London, Singapore and Hong Kong offices.
Prior to joining UBS in 2008, Markus worked in the private equity department of Deutsche Bank and interned with Credit Suisse First Boston in their M&A / corporate advisory division in London.
Markus received a Master's degree with distinction from Sir John Cass Business School in London, a Bachelor's degree from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and he holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Markus is married and father of three daughters.
Michael Maag is Managing Partner of Alantra Switzerland. Prior to Alantra, he was Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley Switzerland. Before that, he worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs in Frankfurt and London.
Over 20 years in investment banking, Michael Maag has advised on transactions worth over $50bn, including numerous M&A, IPO and capital raising transactions in a variety of sectors and geographies.
Pablo is Global Head of M&A with Swissport International, the world's leading provider of airport ground handling and cargo handling services with more than 45,000 employees and operations at approx. 300 airports in 45 countries. Swissport International is pursuing a growth plan that includes an ambitious acquisition agenda in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Prior to joining Swissport earlier this year, Pablo was Global Head of M&A with global logistics company Kuehne+Nagel where he managed M&A transactions with a combined deal value of around $2.5 billion. Prior to Kuehne+Nagel, Pablo was an M&A advisor with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Switzerland and Australia. Pablo holds a Master of Arts in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Banking & Finance from the University of Zurich and has passed all CFA exams.
Patrick Förg is the Head Origination in the Primary Markets team at SIX Swiss Exchange. He and his team are responsible for the origination of new listings (equity and debt) and for enhancing the visibility and awareness of SIX Swiss Exchange as a listing location for Swiss and international companies. Before joining SIX Swiss Exchange, Patrick worked 12 years in the Corporate Finance & Treasury department of the Holcim Group. He holds a BSc in Business Administration (Banking and Finance), a MAS in Corporate Finance and a CAS in Sustainable Finance.
Ralph is a Managing Director within Bridgepoint Credit and joined the Firm in 2020 from EQT Credit which was acquired by Bridgepoint in 2020. He is responsible for origination and execution of financing solutions for mid-sized companies in Germany. Ralph is also part of the Bridgepoint ESG Committee.
Prior to joining EQT in 2014, he was Head of Acquisition in Germany at GE Corporate Finance Bank and Bank of Ireland. He has a wide range of transactional experience in European Leveraged Finance across a large expanse of industries sectors.
Ralph Betz ist Managing Director bei Bridgepoint Credit und kam 2020 von EQT Credit, welches von Bridgepoint im Jahr 2020 erworben wurde. In Deutschland ist er verantwortlich für Origination und Execution von Finanzierungslösungen für mittelständische Unternehmen. Darüber hinaus ist er Teil des Bridgepoint ESG Committee.
Bevor er 2014 zu EQT kam, war er Head of Acquisition in Deutschland bei der GE Corporate Finance Bank und der Bank of Ireland. Er verfügt über ein breites Spektrum an Transaktionserfahrung im Bereich European Leveraged Finance in einer Vielzahl von Industriesektoren.
Stefanie is an experienced C-level Director of Strategy with wide experience of in portfolio transformations and M&A integration & separation programmes to drive growth and create value. She is currently Head of Portfolio Definition at Sandoz (a Novartis division). She was previously Senior Director Strategic reviews, Global Head of ESG and Global Head of Strategy & Portfolio among other roles at Novartis. Stefanie is especially passionate about the S in ESG and how to integrate a clear ”S” vision into the deal strategy and execution at a very early stage
Thorsten Zahn is heading J.P. Morgan’s Equity Capital Markets team for Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
He joined J.P. Morgan in 2022 from Goldman Sachs where he served as Head of ECM Northern Europe (Germany, Austria, Nordics). Prior to this he held several M&A and ECM roles at Morgan Stanley, working in Paris and London.
Thorsten holds a master’s degree in Finance, Legal and Financial Engineering from ESCP Europe Business School, Paris.
Responsibilities
Bringing people, strategy and technology into sustainable harmony in an entrepreneurial context is a powerful and meaningful driver for me, which shapes my professional passion. As co-founder of eevolve, I support companies in creating value in a cooperative manner, and in successfully shaping transformation processes. This applies to the entire investment cycle.
Career
Prior to eevolve, I worked for 20 years at Capvis, a private equity firm focused on mid-sized companies, as a partner and member of the executive board and the investment committee. As a member of the board, I was able to accompany numerous companies and bring some of them to the stock exchange. Before that, I developed, implemented and was responsible for digitisation projects at Swiss Re and UBS.
Education
Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Zurich. Master’s degree in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University. Executive programmes at IMD.
18 years of private equity experience at HANNOVER Finanz in Germany, Ufenau Capital Partners and Patrimonium Private Equity Advisors in Switzerland. At Patrimonium, Ulrich is Co-Head Private Equity, member of the investment committee and serves on the board of portfolio companies. He is instrumental in developing the private equity business within Patrimonium Asset Management AG. Prior to joining the private equity industry, Ulrich worked as a consultant and in the food industry. Ulrich holds a diploma in Economic Engineering from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany) and an Executive Master of Business Administration from the University of Muenster (Germany).
Urs Jordi has more than 25 years of experience in various national and international food companies at management and board level. Urs became a member and Chair of the ARYZTA Board in September 2020. He held various management positions within the Hiestand and ARYZTA Group, most recently as CEO of the listed Hiestand Holding AG (from 2008 within ARYZTA AG), and from 2010 to 2013 as CEO ARYZTA Food Europe & Asia Pacific. Since 2014, Urs Jordi has been involved in various own investments. Urs serves on the board of Schweizer Zucker AG. Urs Jordi is a trained baker and confectioner.