Our People – expertise & commitment.

Michael Rolf

Big4 advisory quality, hands-on services, buy & build, long-term cooperation with investors and entrepreneurs.
Michael Rolf founded Sancovia with this vision in 2012. 

As Managing Partner, Michael Rolf leads the operational business of the group and provides hands-on support to entrepreneurs and investors in sales mandates and buy & build strategies. With almost 20 years of transactions experience and now almost 200 successful corporate transactions alone with Sancovia, but due to his own intensive experience as an entrepreneur, he understands the needs of entrepreneurs and investors in their entirety to a high degree.

Michael Rolf and the entire Sancovia team are committed to working in partnership with their clients until the desired success is achieved.

Before joining Sancovia, Michael Rolf held management positions at PWC in Frankfurt am Main and a private equity company in Zurich. After two further positions as CEO and CFO, he founded Sancovia in 2012.After successfully completing his apprenticeship as an industrial clerk at Braun in Kronberg, Michael Rolf studied international business administration in Wiesbaden and Rome. He is a certified German and American public accountant. 

Jörn Grage

Jörn Grage is the Managing Partner of Sancovia's Düsseldorf office and, as an highly experienced financial expert, focuses in particular on our clients' figures. He acquired and perfected his know-how and expertise, especially with regard to due diligence, in 10 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers in various national and international positions. After working for PwC Middle East in Dubai, Jörn Grage followed his former PwC colleague Michael Rolf in 2013 and has been a partner at Sancovia since the beginning.

Jörn Grage holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (Banking and Finance) from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and a title as Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) from the CFA Institute.

Erik Mattes

Erik Mattes is Managing Partner at the Ravensburg office. He has been part of the Sancovia team since 2015 and is one of our buy-side specialists, having successfully completed over 50 transactions. Erik Mattes owes his success not only to his many years of M&A experience but also to his empathy and ability to consider the needs of entrepreneurs. He looks back on a successful career at KPMG, goetzpartners and Jefferies. Before joining Sancovia, he worked most recently at the Schulz Group in the role of CFO.

Erik Mattes studied International Business Administration in Wiesbaden and San Sebastian. In addition to his diploma, he also holds a Master of Business Administration. 

Fabian Lautenschlager

Fabian Lautenschlager is partner at the Ravensburg office since 2019 and is responsible for the needs of our mid-market clients in buy and sell mandates. After a career at the Boston Consulting Group and over 10 years at the global mid cap M&A consultancy GCA Altium in Munich and London, he became part of the Sancovia team. Fabian Lautenschlager thus brings bundled expertise from national and international M&A practice through more than 15 years of relevant professional experience to our processes. 

Fabian Lautenschlager holds a degree in economics with a focus on finance and studied at the University of Ulm and the University of Bologna. 

Roman Gronau

As a Partner Roman Franz Gronau is our TMT (Technology, Media and Telecommunications) expert in Munich, and advises on both buy- and sell-side M&A mandates. He began his career at EY in transaction services (focussed on TMT assignments) where he spent seven years, latterly as a manager.  He subsequently joined Evidensia, a portfolio investment of EQT. After more than 2 years as an Investment Manager, including several successful transactions, he moved to Becker Büttner Held as a Senior Manager and was responsible for their TMT M&A practice.

Roman studied at Munich Business School in Germany, Fudan University School of Management in China and Northwood University in the USA. 

Carsten Hauke

As a partner in Munich, Carsten Hauke supports our medium-sized clients with buy and sell mandates. He started his career at Lehman Brothers in the Mergers & Acquisitions department in Frankfurt and London before joining Sky Deutschland Group. There he headed the Mergers & Acquisitions department for more than 15 years. In addition, he was responsible for Corporate Finance, Strategy/Corporate Development and Partnerships of the Sky Deutschland Group for several years.

Carsten Hauke holds a degree in business administration and studied at the University of Essen in Germany, the Université Panthéon-Assas in France and Clemson University in the USA.

Matthias Knoke

As a Partner in our Düsseldorf office, Matthias Knoke is responsible for both buy-side and sell-side mandates. He started his professional career in the business recovery services department at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Düsseldorf. Starting in 2012, Matthias successfully accompanied numerous buy and sell side mandates at Oaklins, a renowned M&A advisory, and was most recently responsible for the Stuttgart Oaklins office.  In 2017 he joined QuEST Global, an international engineering and hi-tech service provider in Munich, as Head of M&A Europe. In addition to national and international buy-side projects, he was responsible for the further development of QuEST's Corporate Development Team.  

Matthias Knoke is a trained banker and holds a degree in business administration (Int. Business Administration and Finance & Asset Management) from ISM Dortmund.

Joachim Krantz

Joachim Krantz is partner at Sancovia's Frankfurt office since 2020 and, as a financial specialist, supports our medium-sized clients with regard to due diligence, buy and sell side mandates. 

In particular, his 15 years of professional experience in transaction consulting and M&A at PricewaterhouseCoopers contribute effectively to Sancovia's Big4 standard. His experience with medium-sized companies, large international groups and private equity companies since joining Sancovia in 2019 is highly significant. 

Joachim Krantz holds a degree in economics with a focus on finance and studied at the University of Gießen and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (USA). In 2011, he also achieved the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) qualification from the CFA Institute.

Christopher Leek

Christopher Leek is a partner, based in Frankfurt, and specialises in buy- and sell-side transaction advisory services.

He has over 20 years experience in M&A accrued at PricewaterhouseCoopers and latterly FTI Consulting, where he jointly established its German corporate finance presence.  During that time he has advised on multiple large and mid-cap domestic and cross-border transactions, principally for financial sponsors.  He has a broad sector expertise including industrials, retail, education and services.

Christopher holds a degree in economics and accounting from the University of Bristol.  He is also a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) in the United Kingdom.

Nenad Skopljak

Nenad Skopljak is a partner in our M&A department in Frankfurt am Main and supports medium-sized customers with sell-side transactions. He has 20 years of experience in the field of M&A having worked in private equity (OEP, Advent International), Big4 advisory businesses (PWC, KPMG) and with a stock listed US corporate (AAM). During this time, he has successfully completed more than 30 transactions as the lead project manager. His clients particularly value his ability to examine complex corporate transactions from different perspectives and build on this to implement an optimal solution involving all those involved.

Nenad completed his studies in business administration in Duisburg, Frankfurt am Main and New York with a degree in business administration. In addition, he regularly participates in executive education courses at Harvard Business School and MIT, among others.

Oliver Steinberg

Oliver Steinberg is M&A Partner at our Frankfurt office and advises our mid-cap clients on buy-side and sell-side mandates. 
With more than 17 years of M&A experience, Oliver has advised on numerous mandates for financial investors, small and medium-sized enterprises and multinational corporations both in Germany and abroad.
In the five years before joining Sancovia, Oliver worked for Lincoln International, a global mid-cap M&A advisory firm, where he was a member of the Financial Sponsors Group and responsible for business with family offices in the DACH region. Prior to that, he was an M&A advisor for Commerzbank and Bear Stearns, and in private equity for palero capital and Ellion Management. Oliver’s experience as an advisor, investor and entrepreneur has shaped his approach to consulting, which combines in-depth process know-how and goal orientation with empathy and understanding for the needs of his clients and their counterparts.

Oliver holds a Bachelor of Science (with Honours) from Cass Business School.

Jaime Fernández Pinilla

As a Partner in our Madrid office, Jaime Fernández is responsible for buy-side and sell-side mandates. Mr. Fernández started his career at Grupo Ahorro Corporación (ACF), where he worked in the strategy and analysis department advising Spanish listed companies in various sectors (TMT, broadcasting, industry...). Jaime then switched to Auren Corporate, where he advised successfully due diligence and valuation projects at buy- and sell-side mandates as Director.

Jaime holds a bachelor’s degree in Business & Administration from the university of CUNEF. He completed a semester abroad at the National Chengchi University of Taipei, Taiwan.

Tina Zakic

As a Partner in our Düsseldorf Office, Tina Zakic provides cross-location support to our Buy & Build Division. She supervises the internal Buy & Build process and leads the Research Department as well as the activities related to identifying potential target companies, particularly in the area of platform investments.

Tina has been part of our team since 2016 and has successfully supported numerous SME transactions since then. With over 9 years of experience in the M&A sector, gained in the financial industry and various consulting firms, she brings profound expertise and extensive knowledge to the role.

Tina holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) with a focus on Finance and Taxation, a Bachelor of Laws with a specialization in M&A, and has completed a commercial apprenticeship.

Guido Ebbing

Guido Ebbing serves our private equity clients as well as entrepreneurs and corporates on both sell- and buy-side mandates.
 
Guido started his career at Deloitte Corporate Finance in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Here, he specifically focused on mid-market M&A and was involved in a wide range of buy- and sell-side transactions. Clients varied from private equity, to privately held- and publicly traded companies across a variety of industries. Key focus sectors were the TMT and Consumer Business industries. Some 8 years of Big4 experience has made him into a widely educated and seasoned M&A professional.

Guido holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a double Master; Marketing and Finance, both from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Valentin Heinemann

Valentin Heinemann manages buy- and sell-side mandates as Director at our headquarter in Freienbach. He started his career at Deloitte in Zurich and then joined the renowned M&A consultancy Hübner Schlösser. Valentin came to Sancovia in 2017, where he has since successfully advised on numerous mid-market transactions.

Valentin Heinemann holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from SBS Swiss Business School and a Master of Science in Financial Services from the University of Ulster (Ireland).

Pedro Moragues Prieto

Pedro Moragues manages buy- and sell-side mandates as Director at our Madrid office. He started his career at IESE Business School being Research Analyst with a special focus on Corporate, Banking and Real Estate industry. After that, Pedro joined ONEtoONE Corporate Finance in 2013 where he held different positions as Research Department Director, Director of Corporate Development in the firm for Europe and South America and M&A Manager. Pedro has over 9 years of M&A experience and has previously executed numerous M&A projects for medium-sized family businesses, financial investors as well as listed and smaller companies from various industries in Europe. 

Pedro holds a bachelor’s degree of Law and Business & Administration from the Complutense´s University in Madrid fulfilling his education with various programs within IESE Business School.

Julian Lewis

Julian Lewis, our London office Director, specialises in serving private equity clients, entrepreneurs, and corporates. His expertise spans both buy and sell-side mandates. 

Julian began his career at Deloitte UK and subsequently spent several years in M&A corporate finance, specifically within the Private Equity Coverage team. His responsibilities included cultivating and managing relationships with the UK Mid-Market Private Equity community, with a focus on originating and executing mid-market deals. 

Julian holds a Bachelor of Business Science in Finance & Accounting, a Post Graduate Diploma in Accounting, and is a certified Chartered Accountant (CA(SA)).

Rafał Jackowski

Rafał Jackowski, our Warsaw office Director, serves our private equity clients as well as entrepreneurs and corporates on both buy-side and sell-side mandates. 

Rafal's prior experience includes providing transaction advisory services at KPMG Poland across various industries, serving as an M&A Manager at LUX MED, a leading healthcare company in Poland previously backed by MidEuropa, and acting as M&A Director for MidEuropa, supporting the buy-and-build strategy for J.S. Hamilton, a leading TICC services provider with CEE exposure.

Rafał holds a Master’s degree in Capital Investments from Poznan University of Economics and also completed Economics PhD programme at Warsaw School of Economics.