Philipp Schoeller
Founding Partner of General Capital Group
Founding Partner of General Capital Group
Technical background: Philipp Schoeller was key note speaker at the 150th birthday of Oskar v. Miller, the founder of the Deutsches Museum, Munich, and the Great-Grandfather of Philipp Schoeller. The museum was the pioneer in the field of technical museums and it is still the largest worldwide.
Philipp A. Schoeller
Born in Goettingen, Germany
Education and Employment
MSc. Electrical Engineering, ETH, Zürich (1979 - 1983)
- Graduate thesis on repeated root cyclic code: developed a self correcting code, master with honours and (only) thesis of the year to be published in IEEE
- Finished studies in minimum time incl. a 6-months trip working himself around the world (without funds)
MBA, INSEAD, Fontainebleau (1984 - 1985)
- Master focus on finance - distinction: overall dean\'s list
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
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 3,000 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 € 5bn.
- 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 € 4.0 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)
- Co-author of book "Coaching Kids", a educational guide about a dialogue at eye-level with children