Catherine Ford Consultant Editor MERGERMARKET

Catherine Ford is a consultant editor for the events division at Mergermarket. She is a consultant editor to event programmes, and engaged in the development of timely editorial content for global corporate finance, M&A and capital markets related conferences and events. She routinely moderates discussion panels at conferences across the region. She has worked for Mergermarket since early 2002, holding a number of senior editorial roles in the company’s European, US and Asia-Pacific head offices.

Florian Schick Managing Partner, Co-Founder Bregal

Florian Schick is Co-Founder, Managing Partner and Chairman of the Investment Committee of Bregal Unternehmerkapital ("BU"). Previously, he was a Founding Partner and a member of the Investment Committee at Bregal Capital, a London-based investment fund focused on the European market. Before joining BU, Florian was a Principal at TowerBrook Capital Partners, an Investment Director at Englefield Capital and an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Co. He began his career as a co-founder and a board member of Surplex AG, an online marketplace for industrial equipment. Florian graduated with a degree in Law from the University of Munich (LMU) and received his MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau.

Philipp Beck Managing Director and Head of M&A EMEA UBS

Philipp Beck is a Managing Director and Head of M&A EMEA at UBS. Beck has been with UBS since 2002 and graduated from HSG with a major in finance and accounting in 2002 (lic.oec.HSG).

Daniel Tschentscher Partner and Managing Director Valantic

Daniel Tschentscher is Managing Director and Partner a valantic, one of Europe’s fastest growing consultancies for digital transformation. As a founding member of valantic’s Private Equity Practice, supports investors, shareholders, and management during all phases of the M&A process, covering due diligences, IT transformation, value creation initiatives and exit preparation.

With more than 25 years of experience in digital value creation, Daniel has developed more than 150 roadmaps for digital value creation, including digitalization of marketing and sales, performance improvements and the implementation of efficient IT organizations and development methodologies. Where required, his team of proven interim and change managers ensures that these roadmaps are successfully implemented. In crisis situations, the team manages entire turnarounds, leading from organizational restructurings of marketing, sales and IT departments to entire company turnarounds.

His main branches include software, B2B-services, e-commerce and companies where technical development is a key driver of the value chain.

Prior to joining valantic, Daniel has worked in various digital executive functions. He has studied in Berlin, Cologne, Lausanne and Barcelona, holds an MBA from the IE Business School in Madrid and speaks five European languages.

Julian Heerdegen Operating Executive Riverside Europe Partners

Profile to follow shortly. 

Michael Maag Managing Partner Alantra

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.

Giovanna Maag Partner Altor Equity Partners

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.

Dr. Christian Waldvogel Managing Partner Renaissance

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.

Pablo von Siebenthal Global Head M&A Swissport International

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.

Catherine Ford Consultant Editor MERGERMARKET

Catherine Ford is a consultant editor for the events division at Mergermarket. She is a consultant editor to event programmes, and engaged in the development of timely editorial content for global corporate finance, M&A and capital markets related conferences and events. She routinely moderates discussion panels at conferences across the region. She has worked for Mergermarket since early 2002, holding a number of senior editorial roles in the company’s European, US and Asia-Pacific head offices.

Brice Bolinger Head of M&A Switzerland UBS

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.

Malte Jantz Member of the Executive Board, Partner Helbling Business Advisors

Professional background

•   Helbling Business Advisors AG, Zurich

•   Kaffenberger AG, Appenzell, Switzerland – Senior Manager, Chemical

  Mergers & Acquisitions

•   DeStaCo Metallerzeugnisse GmbH, Oberursel, Germany

•   Hologenix Inc., Huntington Beach, USA

  Industry focus

•   Specialty Chemicals

•   Engineering

•   Plastics & Packaging

•   Construction & Subconstruction Work

•   Textiles

•   Transportation & Logistics

•   Energy

•   Software & IT

  Focus of competence

•   Mergers & Acquisitions

•   Turnaround Management

•   Corporate Finance

•   Succession Planning

•   Financial and Business Planning

•   Valuation

Reto Bärtschi Director, New Business Development and M&A Bruker BioSpin

Reto Bärtschi is Director New Business Development and M&A at Bruker BioSpin. Bruker is a provider of high-value life science research and diagnostics solutions which enable scientists to make breakthrough discoveries and develop new applications that improve the quality of human life.

Over the past 4 years, Reto has been responsible to drive the M&A process for a range of acquisitions globally, utilizing different M&A approaches that include strategic minority investments, “String-of-Pearls” acquisitions as well as “bolt-on” acquisitions.

Before joining Bruker, Reto was part of KPMG's Global Strategy Group for 5 years, supporting predominantly Life Science clients in developing and executing M&A strategies. Prior to joining KPMG, Reto supported the creation of a new business segment within Siemens for 5 years, which included also the acquisition and integration of companies adding to the solution portfolio.

Reto holds a master in Corporate Finance from the University of Zurich and has completed the INSEAD M&A and Corporate Strategy Program.

Aurelia Seidlhofer Senior Correspondent DACH Mergermarket

Aurelia Seidlhofer is a Senior Correspondent for the DACH region at Mergermarket. She joined in June and covers M&A, Private Equity and ECM markets. Aurelia has more than a decade of experience in financial journalism having covered commodities, restructuring & distressed debt as well as equity markets. Prior to joining Mergermarket she was the Deputy Editor of Restructuring & Distressed Debt at Reorg in London. She is based in Munich. 

Catherine Ford Consultant Editor MERGERMARKET

Catherine Ford is a consultant editor for the events division at Mergermarket. She is a consultant editor to event programmes, and engaged in the development of timely editorial content for global corporate finance, M&A and capital markets related conferences and events. She routinely moderates discussion panels at conferences across the region. She has worked for Mergermarket since early 2002, holding a number of senior editorial roles in the company’s European, US and Asia-Pacific head offices.

Martin Gamperl Managing Director Alantra

Martin Gamperl is Managing Director of Alantra Switzerland. Martin has 15 years of investment banking experience. Prior to Alantra, he worked at Rothschild & Co, where he was a Director in the Swiss Corporate Finance Advisory team focusing on M&A and capital markets transactions.

From 2014 to 2017, he was part of Alantra’s Swiss Corporate Finance Advisory team and prior to this, he worked at Rothschild & Co in the firm’s German and Indian offices.

Uwe Kolb Single Family Office Board Member, Investor SINGLE FAMILY OFFICE

Following a long career in PwC and in private equity, Uwe is a seasoned investor and board member in family businesses. Uwe is passionate to contribute to wealth development and wealth protection for families, family offices and investors. He is a strong believer that active governance, performance culture, best-in-class management teams and KPI-driven reporting are the key to outperformance. Uwe actively supports to structure and implement family succession and drive throrough strategic asset allocation. His team-oriented and motivational approach helps to implement strategies on the basis of a modern and empathic style

Rajaa Mekouar Founder & Managing Partner CALISTA DIRECT INVESTMENTS

Rajaa is a PE investor and financial entrepreneur with 25 years of experience across private markets globally. She worked as a GP in different funds focused on the mid markets and as an LP with family offices in UK and across Europe. She is the founder and CEO of Calista Direct Investors, an independent investment platform dedicated to partnering with Single Family Offices, as their “outsourced dealteam” across the board (www.calistadirectinvestors.eu).

Rajaa sits on several PE-related family-owned boards in Luxembourg where she moved in 2016, after 15 years in London. She was awarded “Inspirational Woman in Finance” in 2020 and led the Luxembourg Private Equity Association (LPEA), between 2018 and 2020. There, she launched the PE4W platform to promote Women in PE and the LPEA Insights conference series. Rajaa also supports young artists and musicians and participates in local charity projects. 

Rajaa was born and raised in Morocco, studied in France and spent most of her career in the UK. She speaks 6 languages and is a graduate of HEC Paris (Grande Ecole) and INSEAD (MBA). Rajaa holds three nationalities: Moroccan, Luxembourgish and British.

Thomas Pfisterer Family Investment Office – Director Direct Investments WILD Group Management

• Definition and optimization of the direct investment strategy for the WILD Group Family Office  
• Development, strengthening and coordination of relationships with banks, investment advisors, strategic partners, industry experts and other family offices to establish a proprietary network for sourcing of investment opportunities  Identification, evaluation, negotiation and investment execution incl. due diligence for all direct investments of the WILD Group Family Office since 2015  
• Support and control of executed direct investments via Executive Management (Board) Directorship or Non-Executive Board Directorship positions  
• Transactional support for respective Executive Management Teams of direct investments of the WILD Group Family Office (incl. Capri Sun) for financing, M&A, and capital markets transactions

Roy Awad Managing Partner White Peaks Capital

Roy has extensive experience in private markets. Prior to founding White Peaks Capital, he spent seven years working at Permira in London with a focus on private equity and private credit solutions. Before that, he spent three years within the Argos Wityu private equity team after being part of Natixis leveraged finance team in Paris for five years. Roy holds an M.Sc. in Management from ESSEC Business School Paris and a Bachelor in Economics.

Sandeep Agarwal Partner and Chief Investment Officer, Private Debt Strategy Beechbrook Capital

Sandeep is a Partner and CIO of the European private debt strategy at Beechbrook Capital, where he leads the team to originate and execute private credit investments across Northern Europe including DACH, Nordic, Benelux, UK and Ireland. He is also a member of the Investment Committee and Senior Management Committee. Founded in 2008, Beechbrook is a private debt lender focused on lower mid market niche in UK and Europe. Having raised more than €1bn since inception, it is currently investing from its Private Debt Fund IV and UK SME Credit III.

Lionel Fracheboud Investment Advisor GENUI

Lionel Fracheboud is one of two to represent GENUI in Switzerland. GENUI is a private equity firm established by a group of entrepreneurs and investment professionals and headquartered in Germany. Prior to joining GENUI, Lionel worked at a Swiss multi-family office and originally started his career at BCG, where he was a member of the PE taskforce.

Laura Rusu Founder and Managing Partner Rosedge Capital

Laura Rusu is the Founder and Managing Partner of Rosedge Capital AG. Rosedge Capital is a Pan-European debt advisory firm based in Switzerland and created in April 2020. Before starting Rosedge, Laura worked in Private Equity at Jacobs Holding, based in Zurich. Prior to this, she developed direct private debt experience with Park Square Capital, in London. Laura graduated from the Grande Ecole program at HEC Paris.

Catherine Ford Consultant Editor MERGERMARKET

Catherine Ford is a consultant editor for the events division at Mergermarket. She is a consultant editor to event programmes, and engaged in the development of timely editorial content for global corporate finance, M&A and capital markets related conferences and events. She routinely moderates discussion panels at conferences across the region. She has worked for Mergermarket since early 2002, holding a number of senior editorial roles in the company’s European, US and Asia-Pacific head offices.