A Note on Sources Transactional data It took considerable research to put together the tables for this book. The volume of information to be captured has of course exploded in recent years, with 2007 taking the record for the most private equity related transactions. But the most difficult tables to research were those in earlier years. During the period 1984–1995 the biggest challenge was that many of today’s current M&A news services were not active, including merger market and initiative Europe’s Deutsche Unquote. For more recent years, reliance on these two sources would provide approximately 80% coverage of the transactions. The next challenge is that a number of the early players in the 1984–1995 period are no longer in operation, and consequently have no internet pages or latter- day coverage. Consequently, for the early years we have had to give greater reliance on information from interviews which may not be as complete as for later years. Confirmation of information gained in inter- views has been mainly achieved (where possible) through consulting the “history” sections of the internet pages of the companies involved. For the more recent years we were greatly assisted by having access to Bain & Company’s collection of the buyout data for the period 1996–2003, and L.E.K. Consulting’s data for period 2002–2009. An additional useful source for the period 1998–2003 were the tables from Nico Reimers’ “Private Equity für Familienunternehmen”. We have included in our tables transactions closed in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Various terms are used to define this region, most notably “German-speaking region” or “DACH” (based upon car licence plate abbreviations for the three countries). As our book is ostensibly focussed on Germany, some may feel that the inclusion of Austria and Switzerland in our coverage is inappropriate, or that that title of our book is misleading. In this respect, we have chosen to be pragmatic rather than pedantic. Most players in the German-speaking region are active in deal making within all three countries. Only the vagaries of 20th century political history have prevented us from referring to “Greater Germany” in the same way that many now use the term “Greater China”. We have restricted ourselves to the bare minimum of information for the tables, given the difficulties in researching them. For each transaction 506 A Note on Sources 507 we identified the target, the buyer, the seller, and determined whether the company was later resold, in which case we give the exit year and the identity of the buyer. The most difficult of these pieces of information to obtain is typically the original seller. The most valuable additional piece of information would clearly be the value of the transaction, which would have allowed us to provide many more statistical insights into the devel- opment of the industry. The sad fact however is that the bulk of small and mid-cap transaction values are not disclosed, and we would have been forced to provide either extremely incomplete data, or to develop our own estimates of the values which could have been seriously wide of the mark. The interviews From the outset we knew that our book would be an exercise in oral history. Without extensive primary interviews with the key figures in the industry, it would have been nearly impossible to assemble a compre- hensive review of the process by which private equity was introduced to Germany. The interviews were conducted in all cases on an “off- the-record” basis in order that they could take place in a relaxed and confidential manner. Each interview was taped, and later transcribed. We then selected those elements of the interviews which were most impor- tant for the book, and integrated them into the text. Inevitably, some reworking of the material was necessary in this process, in particular con- verting free-speech into grammatical prose. Once the content and con- text of the information was clear, we then passed the relevant material to our interview partners for correction and approval. Everything contained in this book is therefore “on-the-record” in the sense that it has been checked and approved for publication by out interview partners. Other sources We relied on comparatively few secondary sources for our book. For the early days of minority participations, Günter Leopold’s 40 Jahre Investi- tionen im Deutschen Mittelstand was particularly helpful. This also provided substantial coverage of Deutsche Beteiligungs AG and its predecessors. Ralf Becker and Thomas Hellmann’s paper The Genesis of Venture Capital – Lessons from the German Experience was critical for our coverage of the Deutsche Wagnisfinanzierungsgesellschaft. The Harvard Business School cases studies on Singulus, Infox, and Sirona (Professor Walter Kuemmerle and Charles Ellis) were important sources. For our coverage of HANN- OVER Finanz, Albrecht Hertz-Eichenrode and Andreas Schober’s Zwischen 508 Private Equity Rendite und Verantwortung was also helpful. In the overall assessment of private equity’s contribution to Germany, we referred to Erwerb und Übernahme von Firmen durch Finanzinvestoren (insbesondere Private-Equity- Gesellschaften) – Bericht zum Forschungsprojekt 3/06 für das Bundes- ministerium der Finanzen Berlin, by Christof Kaserer, Ann-Kristin Achleitner, Christoph von Einem, Dirk Schiereck, 2007. For the perspectives of US-based private equity professionals, our principal source quickly became Done Deals: Venture Capitalists tell their Stories edited by Udayan Gupta, which was extremely helpful, being a compilation of short essays by the principal actors in the US venture capital industry. These essays were highly complementary to the interviews we conducted in Germany. One of the best German language literature reviews can be found in Johannes Blome-Drees and Reiner Rang’s Private Equity-Investitionen in deutsche Unternehmen und ihre Wirkungen auf die Mitarbeiter (Hans Böckler Stiftung October 2006). Blome-Drees and Rang also provide a useful review of the experience with the Edscha transactions of 1997 and 2003. A number of Diploma theses have been published which are helpful in examining the value private equity has contributed to companies in Germany. These include Volker Kraft’s Private Equity für Turnaround- Investitionen. Erfolgsfaktoren in der Managementpraxis, and Thorsten Gröne’s Private Equity in Germany: Evaluation of the Value Creation Potential for German Mid-Cap Companies. The most important journals of assistance to our book were Wirtschafts- woche, manager magazin, Der Spiegel, and The Economist. With thanks to the following for additional support Ann-Kristin Achleitner Paul Achleitner Wolfgang Alvano John Arney Charles Barter Ralf Becker Stefan Blum Peter Brooke Christian Fehling Rolf Gardey Horst-Otto Gerberding Paul Goodson Nico Helling A Note on Sources 509 Thomas Hellmann Ivan Heywood Heinrich Hoyos Georges Huber Peter Kroha Fritz Wilhelm Krüger Neil MacDougall Andrew Marchant Stefan Messer Klaus Nathusius Hans Peter Peters Bertram Plettenberg David Rubenstein Franz Scherer Stefan Theis Steve Tibble Christopher Ullman Otto van der Wyck Rolf-Magnus Weddigen Siegfried Weiss Jochen Weyrich Stefan Winterling Philip Yea Walter Zinsser Reproduction Permissions Bild am Sonntag Central European News Der Spiegel Economist Newspapers Guardian News & Media Harvard Business School Publishing International Herald Tribune manager magazine MIT Press Times Newspapers Wirtschaftswoche Notes Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Ralf Becker and Thomas Hellmann: The Genesis of Venture Capital – The Lessons from the German Experience. 2 Henry Kravis’ views were popularised in the book and film of the same name Barbarians at the Gate. 3 For an account of Bruce Henderson’s thinking see Pankaj Ghemawat Compet- ition and Business Strategy in Historical Perspective HBS Comp. & Strategy Working Paper No. 798010 April 2000. Chapter 2 Minority Participations: 1965–1975 1 From 40 Jahre Investitionene im Deutschen Mittelstand 1965–2005, by Günther Leopold, p. 7. 2 Quoted from 40 Jahre Investitionene im Deutschen Mittelstand 1965–2005, by Günther Leopold, p. 7. 3 Ibid., p. 8. 4 Ibid., p. 8. 5 Ibid., p. 12. 6 Ibid., p. 16. 7 Ibid., p. 17. 8 Ibid., p. 17. 9 Ibid., p. 25. 10 Ibid., p. 36. 11 Ibid., p. 48. Chapter 3 The Failed Venture Capital Experiment: 1976–1991 1 Ralf Becker and Thomas Hellmann The Genesis of Venture Capital – Lessons from the German Experience. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 “Peter Brooke: Advent International” in Done Deals: Venture Capitalists tell their Stories, edited by Udayan Gupta, p. 249. 5 Ralf Becker and Thomas Hellmann The Genesis of Venture Capital – Lessons from the German Experience. 6 Interview with Hellmut Kirchner, 29th October 2009. 7 Ralf Becker and Thomas Hellmann The Genesis of Venture Capital – Lessons from the German Experience. 8 Quoted in Ralf Becker and Thomas Hellmann The Genesis of Venture Capital – Lessons from the German Experience. 510 Notes 511 9 Interview with Hellmut Kirchner, 29th October 2009. 10 Quoted in Ralf Becker and Thomas Hellmann The Genesis of Venture Capital – Lessons from the German Experience. 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. 15 Quoted in Ralf Becker and Thomas Hellmann The Genesis of Venture Capital – Lessons from the German Experience. 16 Interview with Hellmut Kirchner, 29th October 2009. 17 Ralf Becker and Thomas Hellmann The Genesis of Venture Capital – Lessons from the German Experience. 18 Ibid. 19 Ibid. 20 Ibid. 21 Ibid. 22 “Peter Brooke: Advent International” in Done Deals: Venture Capitalists tell their Stories, edited by Udayan Gupta, p. 246. 23 “Kevin Landry: TA Associates” in Done Deals: Venture Capitalists tell their Stories, edited by Udayan Gupta, p. 264. Chapter 4 The Early Shoots: Genes Ventures, Matuschka/TVM, & HANNOVER Finanz 1 Interview with Andreas Fendel, 14th August 2007. 2 Inteview with Hellmut Kirchner, 29th October 2009. 3 Interview with Albrecht Matuschka, 23rd March 2007. 4 Ibid. 5 Interview with Rolf Dienst, 11th January 2008. 6 Interview with Albrecht Matuschka, 23rd March 2007.