News

June 2025

Pedersen & Partners and CMS Hasche Sigle co-hosted the 10th German Private Equity Breakfast on June 25th, 2025 in Munich.

The event brought together representatives from local and international private equity and venture capital firms for discussions and networking around the latest market trends and strategic insights.

The panel discussion was moderated by Poul Pedersen, Equity Partner and Executive Chairman, Pedersen & Partners, and Tobias Schneider, Partner, CMS Hasche Sigle.

Panelists included:

• Maximilian Coqui - Partner, Triton Partners

• Luisa Düsberg Dusberg - Principal, Burda Principal Investments

• Philipp Freyschlag - Managing Partner, VTC

• Patrick M. Schaich - Investment Partner & Managing Director, Tengelmann Twenty-One

• Rainer Strohmenger - Managing Partner, Wellington Partners

• Andreas Widholz - Partner, IMAP Germany

Key takeaways from the event:

• Like in the rest of Europe, German exit volumes and DPI are below historic levels, which is a problem. The lifescience VC segment seems however to have generated good exit results.

• External factors like low consumer confidence, AI, and uncertainty related to tariffs and armed conflicts are taken into account both during deal and value creation processes.

• The M&A market is down vs prior years. In addition, strategic buyers are increasing their share of the deals vs private equity/venture capital buyers.

• Fundraising is easier for large-cap, well-established private equity funds but challenging for smaller ones.

• Strong value creation is important in the current times, and having the right, motivated leadership team is a critical component of the value creation plan.

• Despite a challenging first six months of 2025, all members of the panel expressed a positive outlook for the rest of 2025 and 2026. Germany is increasingly seen as an attractive investment location, also for non-European investors.

We thank all participants for their contributions to a highly valuable and insight-driven discussion.