Philipp A. Schoeller

Born in Goettingen, Germany

Education and Employment

Schools (1967 - 1979)

• Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz, Switzerland, honors for academic success
• Ashbury College, Ottawa, Canada: finished 11th in a national Math competition with 28,000 participants
• SAMD, Davos, Switzerland: Matura degree in 11 instead of 13 years

MSc. Electrical Engineering, ETH, Zürich (1979 - 1983)

• Graduate thesis on repeated root cyclic code: developed a self correcting code, best grade and only thesis of the year to be published in IEEE
• Finished studies in minimum time even with a 6-months trip working himself around the world (without funds)

MBA, INSEAD, Fontainebleau (1984 - 1985)

• 2nd youngest participant - a small venture in Zürich was counted as work experience
• Master focus on finance: overall deans list (top 10%)

The Boston Consulting Group London/Munich (1985 - 1988)

• Focus on financial services and takeover due diligence, part of the practice´s M&A team
• Fast track promotion to project leader within one instead of two years
• Interviewed for the private banking business of a U.S. bank 500 entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurial Curriculum

Investor: GSM, Middle Market Private Equity (1989 - 1995)

• Founding partner of GSM-Industries: a buy out firm concentrating on middle market turnaround companies
• Group build from scratch to 3000 employees by 1995; most investments have been divested between 1995 and 2000

Investor: GCI, Venture Equity (1995 - 2001)

• Founding partner of GCI Management, a consultancy firm, IPO in 2001
• Founding financer of several start-up companies including a software firm for internet banking

Investor and Fund Management: GCG, Large Caps (since 2001)

• Founding partner of General Capital Group (2005)
• Focus on large MBOs, MBIs, OBOs (Owners buy outs)
• Successfully structured a major transaction on behalf of the founding family Claussen and other key shareholders of Beiersdorf (with brands such as Nivea, Tesa), in defense against a hostile take-over bid by Procter&Gamble. The transaction had a total value of € 5b.
• Quote from the founding family: "You successfully negotiated with the major shareholder, the Chairman and the CEO of Tchibo (2nd largest shareholder in Beiersdorf); with the Chairman and the CEO of Beiersdorf; with the Minister of Economics and the Minister of Finance in Hamburg and with the CFO of Allianz. … Without your creative, committed and professional work, Beiersdorf would be neither independent nor a DAX member today."
• Instrumental in investments of GCG or advised by GCG to date, cumulative
  total commitments of € 3.3 bn; initiated privatization project Continental; examples of successful GCG investments: Volkswagen, ThyssenKrupp, Lanxess

Philanthropic and Political Activities

• Member of the German Association of "The Club of Rome"
• Former chairman of the Young Presidents Organisation (YPO), Germany, Rhine Chapter
• Founder of the “Fragile-World” Foundation (FWF) - co-author of book "Fragile Welt"
• Co-founder of the liberal network of the Liberal Democratic Party (FDP) in Germany - presently non-active
• Member of the Economic Advisory Board of German-Arab Friendship Society (DAFG)
• Racing Sailing: Vice-Champion at Copa del Rey (King of Spain), Class X35 (A Windfall Success)
• Co-author of book "Coaching Kids", a educational guide about a dialogue at eye-level with children, major articles about this approach in Germany print media and TV