Alexander Bruells joined KKR in 2009 and is responsible for asset services within KKR’s European Private Equity platform, KKR's hedge fund stakes and seeding strategy in Europe and tactical trades within KKR's balance sheet and asset allocation strategies.

Within PE, the asset services sector encompasses a broad array of B2B, B2C and B2G services verticals including asset-based, transport, logistics, leisure/hospitality, resource and utility support, infra-like, real estate, mission-critical and environmental services. Since joining KKR, Mr. Bruells has played a significant role in the investments Avincis (fka Inaer), Bond Aviation Group, RigNet and PortAventura. Currently, he serves on the Executive Committees of Avincis and PortAventura.

Prior to joining KKR, he was with Goldman Sachs Investment Partners in London, a multi-strategy hedge fund, and Goldman Sachs International’s Principal Investment Area (PIA) where he was involved in a range of private equity and mezzanine investments. He holds M.Sc. degrees from WHU Koblenz (Germany) and EM Lyon (France).

Burkhard P. Varnholt is Head Investment Solutions Group, Chief Investment Officer and Member of the Executive Board of Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. since March 2014. Prior to joining Bank Julius Baer, he held similar executive positions with Bank J. Safra Sarasin Co. Ltd. and Credit Suisse Group.

Burkhard P. Varnholt gained his doctorate at the University of St. Gallen, taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Stern School of Business, New York University. He published numerous books and articles. In 2004, Burkhard founded the charity ‘Kids of Africa’, which runs an orphanage for homeless children in Uganda (www.kids-of-africa.com). In 2006 he was awarded the Swiss Re Civilian Services Prize and in 2012 received an honorary doctorate in International Relations from the Geneva School of Diplomacy for his work in connection with this project. As part of his support to cultural activities, Burkhard also serves as a member of the Tate's Africa Acquisitions Committee (AAC).

Christof joined Roland Berger's Munich office in 2011. As Senior Partner in the Investor Support Practice, he assists private equity and corporate clients in commercial due diligence work and growth/performance improvement projects.

Christof has been in consulting for more than 20 years and has led more than 250 buy-side and sell-side commercial due diligences for 50 private equity firms. He has also supported corporates and PE portfolio companies with 100 strategy, growth and performance improvement projects.

Prior to Roland Berger, he was Partner at a specialist global consulting company leading its PE business in Germany, and also worked as an auditor and controller.

Christof studied economics and econometrics at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, where he obtained his Master's of Science, and was an assistant at the Institute for Empirical Economic Research.

Dominic co-founded Porterhouse Partners, the direct investment advisory team of a single client family office, in 2012. Before he worked as consultant at McKinsey & Co., in private equity at Blackstone, he helped restructure EUR 5.8bn of Metrovacesa's real estate debt as part of the interim management team and helped build a successful international renewable energy developer. He holds master degrees in business, finance and economics from WHU, Deusto (ES) and IHEI (CH) and is also a CFA charterholder.

Emilio is responsible for the business development of Leverton. Leverton specialises in intelligently extracting information from legal contracts. Prior to Leverton, Emilio worked in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs and in the Financial Restructuring / Special Situations Group of Houlihan Lokey, both in London. He holds a PhD in Strategic Management and studied in Bonn, Leipzig and Oxford.

Dr. Franz-Robert Klingan is a partner at Bain & Company in Munich. He specializes in the health industry, with his customers mainly consisting of pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies. He offers consulting services for issues associated with product development, (research) productivity and commercial aspects. In addition to this, Dr. Klingan provides advice for private equity funds and large companies on mergers and acquisitions in the health and related sectors.

Before commencing his consulting career with Bain, Franz-Robert Klingan was active in the pharmaceutical industry as a Technology Transfer Manager, where he was responsible for major projects and alliances in the area of biotechnology. He completed his Chemistry studies at the Technical University of Munich, where he also earned a Dr. rer. nat.

Mr. Åtting is based in Munich since August 2013 as part of the EQT Equity team. He joined EQT Partners in 1994 and was part of the team forming the firm. Mr. Åtting worked at the Hong Kong office from 2006 to 2013. He was leading EQT‘s Asia operations between 2009 and 2012.

Prior to joining EQT Partners, Mr. Åtting worked at Enskilda Securities, Corporate Finance in Stockholm, Sweden.

Mr. Åtting holds a Master of Science degree from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Gabriele Todesca joined the European Investment Fund in 2006. Previous appointments include working at Francisco Partners, a technology-focused private equity firm, both in Menlo Park and London, and as an associate at Soros Private Equity Partners, London. Earlier in his career, Mr. Todesca worked as a Corporate Finance Analyst at Schroder Salomon Smith Barney (now Citigroup) in London. Mr. Todesca holds an LLM in Banking and Finance from the London School of Economics, awarded with Merit, and law degrees from the Università degli Studi di Trento, Italy, and the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain.

Giovanna joined 3i in 2008 and is a Director in the German Private Equity team where she focuses on the Industrial sector.

Giovanna was active in the portfolio management and divestment of MWM (formerly Deutz Power Systems) where she held a board position. She has also been involved in 3i’s investment in GIF, Hilite and GEKA and sits on the board of the latter.

Prior to joining 3i, Giovanna worked as a consultant for McKinsey and in M&A with Morgan Stanley in Frankfurt and London.

She holds a Master of Corporate Finance from SDA Bocconi in Italy, a BSc in Economics from Lancaster University, England, and has spent time studying in Singapore.

Hans-Jürgen is a co-Founder and Managing Partner of Mangrove Capital Partners. On behalf of Mangrove, he focuses on finding innovative and disruptive businesses in the universe of e-commerce across Europe and emerging countries such as Russia, India and Israel. Hans-Jürgen had the privilege to be instrumental in the start-up, restructuring and ultimate sale of Brands4Friends to eBay in 2010. Among others, he currently sits on various boards of Mangrove portfolio companies he invested in, including Nimbuzz (social messaging), Outfittery (men’s fashion ecommerce), Storeking (ecommerce infrastructure).

Other professional activities

• Co-founder and founding chairman of the Luxembourg Private Equity and Venture Capital Association in 2010, today counting over 120 members, including many of the best known international private equity and venture capital firms.
• Member of the High Committee of the Financial Center, a consultative body advising the Luxembourg Government on strategic initiatives regarding the development of the private equity and alternative funds industry.
• Member of the Alternative Funds Advisory Committee of the Luxembourg Financial Services Regulator.

Dr. Ingo Krocke is the Founder and Managing Partner of AUCTUS and Chairman of the Investment Committee. He has been working in the private equity space since the mid-nineties. Ingo started his career as a Medical Doctor in Barcelona and New York before joining Procter & Gamble as a Brand Manager in Frankfurt and London where he took care of well-known consumer brands Ellen Betrix, Oil of Olaz, Cover Girl and Always. After his tenure at Procter & Gamble he joined Apax Partners, a leading global private equity firm. In 1999, Ingo co-founded Wellington Partners, a pan-European venture capital fund focusing on early and late stage technology investments. As a Managing Partner he invested in software, services and internet businesses. Ingo holds a Master of Science and a Ph.D. in Medicine from Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn and Université Descartes Paris.

Jens Tschauder is Managing Partner at ACXIT Capital Partners in Frankfurt am Main. He joined the company in 2009 and has more than 20 years of experience in global investment banking.

Stages of his professional career include Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and Nomura in New York, London and Frankfurt. During this time, Mr. Tschauder has been involved in numerous corporate finance transactions, debt financings and initial public offerings as well as capital market related activities.

Among other transactions, his track record includes the merger of Grohe and DAWN and the previous sale of Grohe to LIXIL, the acquisition of Constantia Flexibles by Spear, the privatization of OMV, the acquisition of Fisons by Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, the sale of Siemens Lighting as well as Porsche’s SUV bond financing. In addition, he participated in more than 100 primary and secondary capital market transactions including placements for Infineon, Puma, Gagfah and EADS.

Jens holds a degree in Business Administration from European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel, Germany.

Matthias Rueckriegel is a Partner in the Restructuring & Corporate Finance Competence Center in Frankfurt. He joined Roland Berger in 2011 with a background in investment banking and the logistics industry.

He advises clients on cross-border and domestic M&A transactions, joint ventures and financing with a focus on logistics, telecommunications, media, financial services and business services.

He holds a master's degree in business administration from Justus-Liebig-University in Giessen (Germany) and attended Executive Education programs at Wharton Business School in Philadelphia (USA) and Harvard Business School in Boston (USA).

Max Cartellieri is an entrepreneur with 15+ years experience founding, growing and running successful business focused on the knowledge economy. He is currently Managing Director at AlphaSights, a next-generation information services firm with regional hubs in Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East. Having co-founded the company in 2008, AlphaSights is now a global organisation dedicated to serving a diverse client base, including private equity houses, consulting firms and corporates.

Max started his career in strategy consulting at McKinsey & Company, before moving into private equity at BC Partners. Max's first foray into entrepreneurship was MasterCar GmbH, after which he founded Ciao AG, Europe’s leading price comparison and product review service. The precursor to Autoscout24 (now owned by Dt. Telekom) went on to be acquired by Microsoft (MSFT) in 2008. Max holds BSc and MSc degrees from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Stanford Business School, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Role at Lincoln International
Michael Drill is CEO of Lincoln International in Germany. In this role he provides overall strategic and operational leadership for the company’s activities in German speaking countries. His main activities comprise the acquisition and management of key clients, the leadership of important deal teams as well as the recruitment of qualified personnel.

Advisory Expertise
Michael Drill has 20 years of experience in advising on corporate finance transactions in German speaking countries. Since 1991, he has advised on acquisitions, public takeovers, fairness opinions and corporate divestitures. His clients comprised large corporations as well as mid-sized privately-owned businesses and leading private equity groups. His advisory expertise over the years has been heavily biased towards cross-border transactions.

Industry Expertise
Michael Drill has completed over 70 M&A transactions in a variety of industries. Michael Drill is currently chairman of the board of Shareholder Value Beteiligungen AG (publicly quoted company) and member of the board of SNP AG (publicly quoted company). In addition, he is member of the advisory board of two family-owned businesses.

Past Affiliations
Michael Drill joined Lincoln International in the beginning of 2006. Prior to that he was Head of M&A at Europe’s largest private bank, Sal. Oppenheim, in Frankfurt for six years. Michael Drill spent another six years from 1994 to 2000 in the Investment Banking division of Citigroup Global Markets in London and Frankfurt. As a director within the Global Financial Institutions Team, he led Citigroup's coverage of the financial services sector in Germany and advised clients on cross-border M&A transactions. Michael Drill began his career within the M&A group of Ernst & Young Switzerland in 1991.

Academic Credentials
Michael Drill earned a PhD in Corporate Finance with distinction (summa cum laude) from Fribourg University (Switzerland). He speaks German, English, French, Dutch and Italian. Michael Drill is lecturer at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management in Mergers & Acquisitions.

Mirko Meyer-Schönherr joined PAI partners in 2007 and manages PAI‘s German Office. Mirko has led a number of transactions including Xella, Hunkemöller and FTE.

Mirko started his professional career with McKinsey & Co. in Munich where he spent nine years as a Partner in the Retail & Consumer sector. In 1997 he joined KarstadtQuelle AG, where he spent four years as an Executive Vice President and a member of the Management Board in charge of marketing/sales/e-commerce and purchasing.

He joined Apax Partners in 2001 where he was a Partner and European Head of the Retail & Consumer sector. His portfolio companies included Nordsee, CBR (Street One / Cecil) and New Look in the UK. He was also involved in the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger transaction.

Mirko holds a Bachelor's degree (Diplom Kaufmann) from the European Business School (EBS Oestrich-Winkel), an MBA from Colgate Darden (University of Virginia), and a Ph.D. (Dr. rer. pol.) from the University of Frankfurt. He speaks German (native), English (fluent) and French (fluent).

Christoph Kaserer is a full professor of finance at Technische Universität München (TUM). His area of expertise is corporate finance, private equity, banking, and asset management. Christoph Kaserer published his research in leading international academic journals. He is also active as an expert for public and private institutions. For instance, in a joint project with Deutsche Börse AG he developed the German Entrepreneurial Index (GEX®) as well as the DAXplus Family®, two corporate governance based style indexes. Christoph is also regularly invited to parliamentary hearings as an expert witness.

Before joining TUM, he became Full Professor of Financial Management and Accounting at Université de Fribourg, Switzerland, in 1999. From 2005 to 2010 he was the Dean of TUM School of Management. According to recently published university rankings TUM School of Management is among the top 5 management schools in Germany.

Professor Dr. Serden Ozcan has assumed the Chair of Innovation and Organization at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in July 2014. Prior to that, he was the founding Director of Entrepreneurship Platform at Copenhagen Business School (CBS), responsible for coordinating and facilitating CBS’ entrepreneurship related research, education, outreach, fundraising and internationalization activities. He has a PhD. degree in Business Economics from CBS (2007). Before PhD, he worked at IBM Business Consulting Services (Denmark) and PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consultants (Denmark).

Professor Ozcan is the recipient of multiple international research awards and his publications may be found in leading academic journals. He has been a visiting scholar amongst others at Stanford University and University of Chicago and has held teaching positions at National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School and Sabanci University’s Executive MBA Program.

Sascha joined HgCapital in 2009 from Goldman Sachs, where he advised German clients on M&A and capital market mandates. Previously he worked at Barclays Capital’s Leveraged Finance Division in London and New York. He has been instrumental in the acquisitions of access control company SimonsVoss and audio specialist Teufel and sits on the boards of toy manufacturer Schleich, audio specialist Teufel and fashion brand Americana (Bench).

Sascha holds a Masters degree from WHU Koblenz and an MBA from Universidad de Deusto in Bilbao, Spain. He is a certified CFA charterholder. A native German speaker, Sascha is fluent in English and Spanish.

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. 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. Since 2012 Steve leads the PwC Private Equity Industry for PwC Germany and is a member of the PwC Global Private Equity Board.

Tobias Eichner is a Partner with Oliver Wyman based in Munich. He heads the Private Equity Practice in Central Europe.

Tobias has lead a variety of engagements for financial sponsors and their portfolio companies ranging from restructurings, turnaround and performance improvement programs to growth strategies as well as carve-outs, due diligences or post-merger integration concepts with an emphasis on the industrial sector.

Prior to joining Oliver Wyman, Tobias has gained experience in a bulge bracket investment bank as well as in consulting and industrial firms. He holds a diploma in industrial engineering from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, an MBA degree from University of Georgia (USA), as well as a PhD from Ulm University, all of them with distinction. His doctoral thesis on turnaround management was awarded the 11th Schmalenbach-Prize. Tobias is a CFA charterholder.