Gerhard Benneck – M&A

Gerhard has over 25 years’ experience in the field of executive search but also in Mergers & Acquisitions.

Gerhard is an American national. He grew up in Germany, France and the United States, thereby speaking all three languages (albeit French is a bit rusty). Gerhard attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute studying mechanical engineering before moving on to George Washington University and gaining a degree in Business Administration. Moving back to Europe, he started his career in the banking industry and then moved on to software sales. In 1988 he moved into consulting, starting his own company in the field of Executive Search.

In the mid-1990ies Gerhard moved into the field of Mergers & Acquisitions, finding that it complemented his work in executive search, effectively being a very similar process. Since then he has helped various mid-level German companies find buyers, many of them international in origin.

Some examples include

• A temporary work agency (Turnover € 30 Million) sold to a large Dutch group
• A labelling company (Turnover € 5 Million) sold to a large Canadian group
• A call center sold within Germany to an individual buyer
• Various wholesalers in medical equipment sold to a large American group who wanted to get established in Germany.

He also helps companies looking for acquisition opportunities scan the market and find appropriate takeover targets. For instance a recent one was a large private equity owned company in the field of building services who was looking for family owned companies in Germany who were interested in selling.

Gerhard enjoys sports of all kinds, such as tennis, soccer, volleyball and cycling. When he can get them all together Gerhard goes skiing with his wife Martine and his three children (who, now that they realize that vacations can be expensive, quickly say yes when the time comes to plan the vacation!).