Hawkpoint eyes German expansion

The corporate and private equity advisor is appointing former KPMG executives Richard Markus and Warren Scott to lead its new Frankfurt office, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions and debt restructuring.

Corporate and private equity advisory business Hawkpoint is appointing Richard Markus and Warren Scott as managing directors to lead the firm’s further expansion into Germany, following its opening of an office in Frankfurt.

Both have more than 20 years experience in German corporate finance, including serving as co-heads for Jefferies in the country since 2007. Prior to that they helped establish KPMG Corporate Finance’s Germany business.

Markus began his career at KPMG in London in 1987, and moved to Berlin in 1992 to set up its first dedicated mergers and acquisitions team in the country. Scott set up KPMG’s M&A team in Frankfurt in 1997.

Both will take over as co-heads of Hawkpoint’s German operations in June, with the new Frankfurt office to initially focus on M&A advice as well as debt advisory and debt restructuring in the corporate and private equity industry. The head of international at Hawkpoint said in a statement that the firm – which has been active in Germany for a decade – intended to broaden its operations there through a local presence.

Hawkpoint has previously advised on deals including UK media group Chrysalis’ sale of its radio division and Scottish Media Group’s sale of its outdoor advertising business, while it has advised on M&A transactions in Germany for clients such as Siemens WestLB.

Other private equity players showing interest in Germany of late include The Blackstone Group, which recently hired Axel Herberg to lead its activities in the country, while in November Advent International purchased MEDIAN Kliniken, the country's largest care home operator, in what was reported to be Germany’s largest private equity deal of 2009.