GCG European Regional Conference 2019 | Prague

 

The latest GCG M&A Dealmakers meeting took place in May in occasion of the GGI European Regional Conference 2019 in Prague, Czech Republic. Some 30 M&A advisors from GCG member firms and candidate firms joined this event and met with the over 240 participants at the GGI conference.

The programme started on Friday with a private lunch scheduled for GCG members and candidate firms, featuring a wine-tasting session and a discussion about the GCG network developments, functioning and future plans. The participants were then invited to join the M&A Practice Group session led by Tim van der Meer (Marktlink Fusies & Overnames B.V., The Netherlands), who is the Global Chair of the PG and a member of the GCG Strategic Committee. The day programme came then to an end with an informal dinner at the U Fleků Brewery, with both GCG and GGI members in attendance.

The Saturday morning featured the main GCG M&A Dealmakers session, opened by a welcome speech delivered by Tim van der Meer, and welcoming some 60 participants, including also members of GGI who had a strong interest in M&A.

Tim van der Meer continued then with a presentation about “How to pitch a deal” featuring contributions by various GCG members and sparking an interactive discussion and exchange of best practices.

The session continued after a coffee break with an additional interactive session led by Rajesh Kothari (Cascade Partners, Detroit, MI, USA), focused on the deal exchange activities and opportunities between GCG and GGI members, and how to get the best out of the interaction between the two groups.

Following this contribution, a panel discussion about the cooperation between M&A advisory firms and professional firms was also organised. Moderated by Michael Reiss von Filski (Chairman of GCG) the panel welcomed on stage Mr Robert Contaldo (XLCS Partners, Chicago, IL, USA) as representative of the M&A advisers,  Mr Richard Mastrocola (Tonneson + Co, Boston, MA, USA) as representative of the accountants, and Mr Robert Thompson (Ward Hadaway, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK) as representative of the lawyers. The session was constructive and interesting and it involved also various members of the audience.

The conference session ended with a presentation delivered by Marco Izzo, COO of GCG and GGI, who provided an overview of the developments within the GCG networks, new members, tools and features for members, future events and the private Deal Sharing Platform accessible at www.gcg.deals. The rest of the programme followed that of the GGI European Regional Conference.

The next GCG meeting will take place in Houston, TX (USA) in occasion of the GGI Pan-American Regional Conference (20-23 June 2019). We welcome both GCG and GGI members to join us at this event.