When your life's work
is at stake,
trust matters
Your company is more than a balance sheet: it is your life's work, your employees, your name. When it comes to sale or succession, you need an advisor who understands this, and who brings the experience such a process demands.
You don't need an advisor to explain the world to you. You need one who understands yours.
Entrepreneurs who have led businesses with 50 or 500 employees for many years do not need an advisor to explain their decisions. They need someone who takes on the work that cannot be handled alongside day-to-day operations: structuring a transaction process over five to twelve months, understanding the market, and mastering the details where, in the end, significant value is at stake.
Zerbach & Company was founded in 2014 for exactly this purpose. Our clients are owner-managed companies and family businesses, entrepreneurs who have built their businesses and now want to pass them on to the right hands or develop them strategically. The experience we bring comes from numerous national and international transactions over the past decades.
One mandate. One side. No brokerage model, no conflicts of interest, no delegation to junior staff after the first meeting. The partners you meet in the initial consultation will accompany you until signing, and beyond.
since 2014
Senior Team
Sell-side mandates
transactions
Advisors
experience
More than 65 transactions since 2014
Company Sale & Succession
Comprehensive support: from exit-readiness to a successful closing.
How a company sale works →Exit-Readiness and preparation
Together, we sharpen the equity story, prepare financials and documentation for due diligence, and position your company optimally for the transaction process.
Buyer identification and outreach
Our network and a database of 3,500 financial investors and family offices as well as more than 800,000 companies enable targeted outreach to the relevant buyers, both nationally and internationally.
Negotiation and Closing
Whether a competitive bidding process or exclusive negotiation is the right approach depends on your individual situation. In both cases, we lead the process with structure, consistently representing your interests through to the completion of the transaction.
Company Acquisition
From strategy to closing: we provide comprehensive support for acquisitions.
Acquisition strategy
Together with you, we develop search profiles that precisely reflect your strategic objectives, rather than reacting opportunistically.
Target identification and outreach
Structured identification and confidential outreach to suitable target companies, through our own databases, international partner networks and an address book we have built over decades of experience.
Negotiation and execution
From the Letter of Intent through due diligence to closing: with the experience of numerous transactions at your side, we know where value is created or lost.
Modular product: Target Screening
Tailored target lists including key financial metrics and initial valuation, particularly valuable for international search profiles.
Company Valuation
Professional, market-oriented company valuation based on recognized M&A methodologies.
Event-based valuations
Valuations for succession considerations, changes in the shareholder structure, joint ventures, fairness opinions and corporate-law matters, within a clearly defined, transparent framework and at a fixed price.
Methodological rigor and market insight
Combination of Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analyses, trading multiples and transaction-based comparables. Our valuations are market-oriented because we work in real M&A processes every day, not academic models, but bankable figures.
Clear results, no black box
The result is a transparent valuation memorandum with ranges, sensitivities and clearly documented assumptions. Suitable for internal discussion, as a basis for negotiations, or as a document for boards and shareholders.
What is your company worth?
An event-based company valuation at a fixed price as a basis for your further considerations.
What our clients say
Throughout the entire process, Zerbach & Company proved to be a partner we could trust without reservation. Frank Eckertz and his team guided us through every phase with outstanding professional expertise, great diligence and a clear understanding of our entrepreneurial objectives. Even in demanding negotiation situations, Zerbach & Company acted with confidence, structure and a strong focus on solutions. We were particularly impressed by the combination of professionalism, reliability and genuine personal commitment. We felt excellently advised and supported at all times. We would therefore recommend Zerbach & Company without hesitation.
The acquisition of KÖNIG + CO. was a strategically important move for us, and simultaneously a demanding transatlantic transaction with all of its typical challenges: cultural differences, time zones, legal frameworks, and differing expectations. Zerbach & Company represented the seller with impressive professionalism, speed, and finesse throughout the process. We were particularly impressed by their deep understanding of the dynamics of mid-sized industrial companies and their ability to remain solution-oriented and professional, even in critical negotiation phases. They consistently advocated for their client's interests while never losing sight of the delicate balance of our perspective as buyers. Despite differing interests at various stages of the negotiation process, the collaboration was always respectful, efficient, and equal. Without Zerbach & Company's expertise and ability to mediate, a successful closing would not have been possible.
My relationship with the partners of Zerbach & Company goes back as far as 2004, when Leander Zerbach subsequently succeeded in bringing together four shareholders with very different interests and very successfully sold their stake in the world's leading toy figure manufacturer Schleich to HgCapital in a competitive auction process. Since that time, I have worked very closely and trustfully with Leander Zerbach, Dr. Lars Junc and Marc Bollinger. They advise me on my various activities with own production sites in North Africa and China, as well as on my current and former participations such as Tonies®, Fazua, Demecan, SpyraOne and TigerMedia.
We got to know the Zerbach & Company team at the beginning of 2015. Through the mix of professional work, always open communication in combination with a very pleasant collaboration on a personal level, Zerbach & Company has subsequently been able to contribute important pieces of the puzzle to make the extremely rapid growth of our tonies® audio figures conquerable.
As a long-standing member of the Executive Board of WGZ BANK and later DZ BANK, I was able to accompany Mr. Zerbach's successful professional career over many years. In this context, I am pleased to emphasize his significant contribution to the success of WGZ (and later VR) Corporate Finance Beratung GmbH, which was founded in 2004 and which he played a key role in establishing and expanding over a period of 10 years. It was therefore very regrettable that Mr. Zerbach left our cooperative banking network in 2014 and went into business for himself by founding Zerbach & Company. In the years that followed, he and his team succeeded in positioning themselves successfully and building up a broad network. In addition to the professional expertise, this is largely due to the acting persons, who time and again succeed in winning over entrepreneurial personalities for themselves and their advisory competence. This achievement deserves recognition and appreciation.
Zerbach & Company is one of the few consulting firms that considers the interests of all parties in their mandates. They work creatively to find solutions on how to increase the value of a transaction for all parties involved and then to share this value fairly between their clients and the negotiating parties. That's how you succeed in deals that all parties are satisfied with, even in the long run.
After we had decided to sell our life's work in mid-2019 after many detailed discussions, we started looking for a suitable M&A advisor for the purpose of implementing our plan. Zerbach & Company prevailed over two other advisory firms that came into question and we have not regretted the decision in any way. Decisive for our choice were not only the personal chemistry but also the references and the experience of the team in the field of construction elements as well as the professional and at the same time unpretentious appearance of the employees. In only 5 months including the preparation phase, which we would not have thought possible at the beginning, we were able to complete the competitive process with the successful sale to the listed, Swiss SFS Group. During this intensive, highly emotional phase, we felt that Zerbach & Company was committed and trustworthy at all times.
I really liked the modular approach of Zerbach & Company. In the first step, I was able to approach the topic of succession or company development via a company valuation and thus also get to know the high-quality advisory of Zerbach & Company. And after I had made a decision in the second step to reorganize the shareholder structure of my company, Zerbach & Company was a professional advisor and companion for me in an environment that had been completely foreign to me until then, and all of this on an extremely pleasant human basis at the same time.
I have been working with Mr. Zerbach in the field of Mergers & Acquisitions for 17 years and with the team of Zerbach & Company since its foundation in 2014. The team does not act as a "company broker", but is very well prepared to first carefully record the situation of the company and that of its shareholders and, on this basis, develop a professional concept for the further course of action, always exclusively in the interest of the respective client, either on the buyer's side or on the seller's side. In particular, the team has special expertise in dealing with complex shareholder structures and demanding entrepreneurial personalities. With great prudence, perseverance and a sense of proportion, Zerbach & Company has thus already succeeded in leading numerous corporate transactions to the desired success in a targeted manner.
We worked with Mr. Zerbach and Mr. Bollinger for a long time and intensively on the acquisition of one of our portfolio companies. What I particularly appreciate about the gentlemen and your work is your obliging and honest demeanor as well as the uncomplicated and pragmatic approach when necessary, which allowed suitable solutions to be found even in difficult situations in order to bring about the success of the transaction for all parties involved.
Selected Transactions
MBS Logistics → AD Ports Group
Logistics
KÖNIG + CO. → HBH Holdings
Machinery & Plant Engineering
THUN Automotive → RCP
Automotive
VISCO → Infra Group
Infrastructure
NOBILIS → Gebr. Heinemann
Consumer Goods
Expanded Metal → MEISER
Metal Processing
Tonies, Growth Financing
Digital Audio · Children
Schleich → Ardian
Toys
Cross-border success
Well over half of our transactions have an international dimension: buyers, sellers, or subsidiaries based outside Germany. Our network extends across North America, Europe, and Asia, and we bring the cultural and legal experience that cross-border processes demand.
MBS Logistics → AD Ports Group
The shareholders of MBS Logistics sell the globally integrated freight forwarding and logistics provider to AD Ports Group (Abu Dhabi), executed via its European division Noatum Logistics.
KÖNIG + CO. → HBH Holdings Inc.
Transatlantic succession: the König shareholder family sells the company to the US family-owned HBH Holdings based in Cincinnati.
The Expanded Metal Company → MEISER Group
Transatlantic portfolio divestiture: advising the US financial investor EIH Capital Partners on the sale of its UK portfolio company to the German MEISER Group.
VISCO → Infra Group
Telecommunications and energy infrastructure: the owner of the VISCO Group sells to the Belgian Infra Group (PAI Partners, ICG, Andera).
ELP → BayTree Private Equity
Transaction process with buyer and seller in the United Kingdom: sale of Emergency Lighting Products, Billingshurst, to London-based financial investor BayTree.
NOBILIS Group → TMC Nordic
The NOBILIS Group continues to expand: extending its beauty & perfume distribution from the DACH region into Scandinavia.
The people you meet in the initial consultation will accompany you through to a successful closing
You are not engaging a firm, you are engaging people. Zerbach & Company is deliberately set up as a boutique: a senior team of experienced advisors that has been working together in unchanged constellation for 20 years. The team you meet at Zerbach & Company is the same team that leads your process, from the initial conversation through to closing. Nothing is delegated that should not be delegated.
Leander Zerbach
Managing Director
40+ years of M&A experience
Marc Bollinger
Managing Director
25+ years of M&A experience
Dr. Lars Junc
Partner
15+ years of M&A experience
Frank Eckertz
Associated Partner
25+ years of M&A experience
Maximilian Castenholz
Associate
3+ years of M&A experience
Industry knowledge you can't generate with AI
Zerbach & Company is complemented by an advisory board of 13 experienced entrepreneurs and industry experts. What this means for you: when your business calls for operational expertise beyond the financial perspective, as most mid-market transactions do, we can bring it in. The operational experience of our industry advisors complements our transaction expertise exactly where it matters in M&A processes: in understanding the business, market dynamics, and the strategic rationale of a buyer.
André Barth
Founder DuoTherm Rolladen GmbH (today part of the Stella Group)
Dr. Helen Fürst
Managing Partner Fürst Group · Former President of the German Association of the Plastics-Converting Industry
Ralf Hammer
Owner and shareholder of various infrastructure companies (energy and telecommunications)
Jürgen Heidel
Former Managing Director SWA Technologies (today part of the Brückner Group)
Jan Hinrichs
Angel Investor, Former CEO Spiele Max AG and Managing Director Erstling GmbH
Markus Kloepfer
Managing Partner alpha logs GmbH
Paul Kraut
Former shareholder of Tonies® and Schleich® · Angel investor in various start-ups
Alex. Mesdaghi
Former shareholder and Managing Director of industrial needle manufacturer Schmetz
Dr. Michael Oltmanns
Partner Menold Bezler · Chair of Supervisory Board Becker Mining Systems · Former KATHREIN, Pfeiffer, Scholz
Oliver Schulte
Board Director NSECT Ningbo · Former Managing Partner Mannheimer Swartling Shanghai
Dr. Michael Seibold
Managing Director Hauff-Technik GmbH (INDUS Holding AG) · Advisory Board Schöffel
Dr. Uwe Tillmann
Former CEO VION Food Group N.V. · Former Chair of the Advisory Board, Melitta Group
Dr. Ulrich Viethen
Managing Director MURR Elektronik · Former Group VP Siemens Medical Solutions
A first conversation is non-binding and costs you nothing but an hour of your time.
Many owners first speak to us years before an actual transaction. That is the right approach: those who understand early how the market will position their company and which options are realistic will make a later decision on a different basis. A non-binding initial consultation gives you three things: an initial view of the market, orientation on possible timing windows, and a sense of who you would be dealing with if it came to a process. More than that is not required at this stage, and less would be unprofessional.