Further to the successful meetings organised in occasion of the GGI European and World conferences in 2017 (respectively in Brussels and Vienna) and to the meeting in Marbella in 2018 during the ITPG Global Tax Summit, GCG members could meet again in occasion of this year’s GGI European Regional Conference in Berlin.
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. This private session provided the participants with the chance to meet with fellow members in a more private way and to discuss important topics and aspects of the GCG life. After the private lunch meeting, delegates were 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 GCG delegates were also invited to join the GGI members in the evening for the informal dinner at the Restaurant Nolle.
The Saturday morning featured the main GCG conference session, opened by welcome speeches by Claudio Cocca and Tim van der Meer, and welcoming some 60 participants, including also members of GGI who had a strong interest in M&A. Various presentations took place during this session.
First speaker of the day was Dr Dirk Jungen from Corporate Finance Hannover (Germany) who provided an overview about the cooperation opportunities between GCG and GGI members taking advantage of the synergies between the two groups.
The session continued with a panel discussion on “How to Successfully Pitch for a Deal”, moderated by Michael Reiss von Filski and welcoming on stage Dr Josep Maria Romances (Closa Investment Bankers, Spain), Tim van der Meer (Marktlink Fusies & Overnames B.V., The Netherlands) and J. Lee Lloyd (J. Lee Lloyd, LLC, USA). Various aspects of this topic were covered revealing interesting insights about different “pitching strategies”.
The panel session was followed by a presentation delivered by Douglas Nix (Stillwater Capital Corporation, Canada) about fee-sharing policies between GCG and GGI members, and how experts from both two groups can work together in a more efficient way.
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. Final feature of the morning was a speed-networking session with 5 minutes of 1-on-1 meetings with fellow members aimed to introduce the members firms and to exchange deal-opportunities, which continued also during a private lunch organised after the morning session.
The next GCG meeting will take place in Denver, CO (USA) in occasion of the GGI North American Regional Conference (21-24 June 2018). We welcome both GCG and GGI members to join us at this event.