We are an experienced team of entrepreneurial investors.
We use our profound individual and joint expertise to ensure the development and growth of small and medium-sized companies.

Partner and team

Each of our investments is an act of personal conviction. Every success story is the result of intensive teamwork. We don’t see our investments simply as financial projects, but as an opportunity for our active entrepreneurial involvement. This is why we create new ways of developing potential and prospects for our target companies, and at the same time add value for investors.

Dr. Thomas Duhnkrack
Founding and Managing Partner

Vita

Dr. Thomas Duhnkrack

As a founding partner, Thomas Duhnkrack has been with PREMIUM since 2011. He holds a doctorate in business administration and spent more than 20 years at Deutsche Bank (including seven years in Japan) before joining the executive board of DZ BANK in 2003. He has been a member of various boards at larger SMEs.

  • Member of the supervisory board of HAUCK AUFHÄUSER LAMPE PRIVATBANK AG and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG, previously Operating Partner at Advent International (2010—2013).

  • DZ BANK AG: member of the executive board for corporate clients as well as corporate and structured finance, foreign subsidiaries and Chairman of the executive board in asset finance (real estate, ships and aircraft, leasing) and at VR Equity Partner.

  • Deutsche Bank AG: most recently as executive board member responsible for German corporate banking and international sales financing. Member of the Corporate and Investment Banking Board, London.

  • Apprenticeship in banking, business administration and doctorate at the University of Hamburg.

Kontakt

Marcel van Wijk
Founding and Managing Partner

Vita

Marcel van Wijk

Marcel van Wijk was one of the founders of PREMIUM in 2011. With his extensive 30 years of experience in the investment business, he has analysed, supervised, successfully executed and divested more than 25 transactions. During this time, he has been involved in initiating and structuring management buy-outs and acquiring majority and minority interests in various medium-sized companies, has set up several SME funds and cultivated international investor relations.

  • Before co-founding PREMIUM in Frankfurt, he was a partner of the Halder Group.

  • Halder Germany: 1998-2010 finishing as partner; Halder Netherlands 1993-1998.

  • Fundraising for four medium-sized funds.

  • Degree: Business Administration at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Kontakt

Maximilian Bühler
Associate

Vita

Maximilian Bühler

Maximilian Bühler has been part of PREMIUM's investment team since February 2023. Previously, he worked for a family office in Munich for two years, which primarily invests in small- to medium-sized companies. Since 2017, Maximilian was a Senior Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft (PwC) in Munich, where he advised financial and strategic investors on M&A transactions and worked on several restructuring projects.

  • Previously part of the investment team of a Munich-based family office with a focus on small- to medium-sized companies

  • Senior Associate at the Transaction Services and Business Recovery team at PwC

  • Master in quantitative economics at the University of Konstanz and the University of Essex

Kontakt

Pieter van Halem
Managing Partner

Vita

Pieter van Halem

Active in the investment business for over 25 years, Pieter van Halem joined the PREMIUM partnership in April 2021. In recent years, he has launched several funds, completed, managed and successfully sold over 15 buyout transactions, growth financing and an equal number of add-on acquisitions. He has also held numerous supervisory and advisory board positions at medium-sized companies.

  • Human Med AG: Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

  • CornerstoneCapital Group: Executive Board, Managing Partner, co-founder since 2001.

  • Investment Director at 3i, previously held positions at Arthur Andersen management consultancy and Citibank.

  • Degree: Business Administration at the European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel, MBA from the University of Virginia/Darden School of Business.

Kontakt

Kristina Mickerts
Finance Director

Vita

Kristina Mickerts

As Finance Director, Kristina Mickerts has been part of the PREMIUM team since April 2018. From 2013 to 2018, she worked for the auditing firm Mazars GmbH & Co. KG. As senior auditor she was responsible for the execution of audits of stand-alone and consolidated financial statements for companies of different legal forms and sizes, in accordance with German accounting regulations (HGB) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

  • Mazars GmbH & Co. KG in Frankfurt am Main: Senior auditor from 2013 to 2018.

  • Ernst & Young GmbH auditors in Eschborn.

  • Master of Laws (LL.M.) at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management; specialising in: Mergers & Acquisitions, Finance & Accounting.

Kontakt

Fabian Walesch
Managing Partner

Vita

Fabian Walesch

Fabian Walesch has been a partner at PREMIUM since August 2015. He began his private equity career by joining the HALDER Group, where he completed several buy-out transactions together with Marcel van Wijk from 2005 onwards. Before joining PREMIUM, he spent four more years working for the Swiss private equity fund, Cross Equity Partners, for which he generated, executed and supervised several medium-sized investments in Switzerland and Germany. 

  • Cross Equity Partners: Senior Investment Manager, formerly Halder Germany: Investment Manager 2005-2011.

  • M&A Boutique, Boehm-Bezing, Sieger & Cie in Stuttgart, previously a Private Equity Placement Agent at Triago.

  • MBA (Imperial College, London, also Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA); degree: International business administration at the Munich Business School.

Kontakt

Philipp Väth
Investment Manager

Vita

Philipp Väth

As Investment Manager, Philipp Väth is part of the PREMIUM investment team. Until April 2019, Philipp Väth worked as Manager in the Transaction Services division at the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH (PwC) in Frankfurt am Main. Having joined PwC in 2013, he primarily supported private equity companies with their due diligence and numerous buy- and sell-side mandates.

  • PwC: Manager in Transaction Services, previously in the Transaction Graduate Program.

  • Graduate in business administration with a focus on banking, finance and auditing.

  • Studied business administration at the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, which included a study visit to the Grande École de Commerce (INSEEC) in Paris.

Kontakt

Konstantin Skora
Investment Director

Vita

Konstantin Skora

Konstantin Skora has been with PREMIUM since June 2017 and, as Investment Director, has extensive experience in the field of private equity – including deal origination and execution as well as in the development of portfolio companies. From 2008 onwards, he worked in the Transaction Services division, then from 2010 onwards in the medium-sized investment business for L-EA Private Equity and Cross Equity Partners in Switzerland, where he worked with Fabian Walesch.

  • Cross Equity Partners: Investment Manager from 2014 to 2017, previously an investment professional at L-EA Private Equity GmbH.

  • AMR International: Consultant Transaction Services/Commercial due diligence.

  • Degree: International MBA and Master in Research Methodology at the Instituto de Empresa, Madrid; Master in Strategic Management at the University of Tilburg.

Kontakt

Maximilian Bühler
Associate

Vita

Maximilian Bühler

Maximilian Bühler has been part of PREMIUM's investment team since February 2023. Previously, he worked for a family office in Munich for two years, which primarily invests in small- to medium-sized companies. Since 2017, Maximilian was a Senior Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft (PwC) in Munich, where he advised financial and strategic investors on M&A transactions and worked on several restructuring projects.

  • Previously part of the investment team of a Munich-based family office with a focus on small- to medium-sized companies

  • Senior Associate at the Transaction Services and Business Recovery team at PwC

  • Master in quantitative economics at the University of Konstanz and the University of Essex

Kontakt

Track Record

PREMIUM Equity Partners is an investment company founded in 2011 with a focus on niche companies in the DACH region with revenues of between EUR 10 and 50 million.

since 1993

Investment experience

50

Transactions

13

Team Deals

Operating partners

A broad network of operating partners has been with us for many years. Experts we have been able to meet as part of our investments are an integral part of this cooperative network of more than 50 people. We would like to introduce you to five of these operating partners.

    /5

    • Berthold Hackl

      Healthcare + MedTech

      A graduate biologist with an MBA, Berthold has more than 35 years of experience, including as a board member and investor in the Healthcare + MedTech sectors. Today, he is a professional member of the supervisory and advisory boards of several MedTech and healthcare companies, including a PREMIUM operating partner and chairman of the supervisory board of Human Med AG.

      • EUROFINS SCIENTIFIC: General Manager Europe 2014–2019.

      • INVENDO MEDICA: CEO 2007–2014 (sold to AMBU 2017).

      • SYNTHES (now JOHNSON & JOHNSON): Managing Director, formerly General Manager at PHARMACIA (now DANAHER).

      • Master of Business Administration, INSEAD in Fontainebleau; Diploma in Biology from the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, degree: Biology, Chemistry, Ethnology in Freiburg and at the Université Paris VII.

    • Dr.
      Wilhelm Krüger

      Software + Connectivity

      As a serial entrepreneur and private investor, Dr. Wilhelm Krüger brings with him sound experience in the Software + Connectivity sectors, as well as from numerous memberships of supervisory and advisory boards. As chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Fraunhofer Institute ITWM for many years, he also has excellent networks and expertise in key future technologies and their applications.

      • ELTEC ELECTRONIK AG: Supervisory board until 2021, before chairman of the advisory board at HUMAN SOLUTIONS GmbH from 2002 until its acquisition by two financial investors in 2015.

      • BLUE ORDER AG: CEO/CSO until 2010, previously CEO and founder of TECMATH AG.

      • Doctorate (Mathematics) at the University of Kaiserslautern 1983; Diploma in Mathematics, Physics at the Philipps University Marburg.

    • Bernd Kuhlin,
      engineer

      Technology + Industry

      Bernd Kuhlin, a qualified engineer, has been an operating partner since 2016 and supports PREMIUM with his in-depth industry and management experience in the Technology + Industry sector. He can look back on more than 25 years of expertise in this sector. With a particular focus on telecommunications, IT and smart homes, he took over the chair of the advisory board at heinekingmedia in June 2021.

      • NOVA INCEPTA AG: CEO and owner since 2016, previously GEBERIT GROUP: Chief Sales Officer, ASCOM AG: Group Executive Board.

      • SIEMENS AG: Management of the global telecommunications business for enterprise customers.

      • Degree: Electrical engineering at the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen in Nuremberg.

    • Dr.
      Wolf-Dietrich Loose

      Consumer 
+ Lifestyle Goods
      Founding partner PREMIUM

      As one of the founding partners of PREMIUM, Dr. Wolf-Dietrich Loose has remained closely associated with PREMIUM even after his departure in 2016. He was previously chairman of the advisory board at WEKA. He also holds a doctorate in law and a number of supervisory and advisory board positions.

      • Former management board at METRO AG, ASKO Deutsche Kaufhaus AG and Kaufhof Holding

      • Member of the investment committee and chairman of the industry advisory board of capiton AG

      • Founder of the corporate finance consultancy FIRST CAPITAL PARTNERS (2001–2016) and DEKRA Personaldienste GmbH

      • Chairman of the supervisory board at Stellaneo AG, previously held the same position at HORTEN AG, REAL SB-WARENHAUS GmbH, SCHWARZ PHARMA AG

    • Dr.
      Martin Wienkenhöver

      Technology + Industry

      Since 2016, Dr. Martin Wienkenhöver has been operating partner of PREMIUM for the Technology + Industry sectors – with a focus on chemicals and raw materials as well as related sectors. He holds a doctorate in chemistry and has worked for international fine chemicals companies. He has been responsible for successful exits to the financial investors Bridgepoint and Permira.

      • CABB Group: CEO, formerly NORDZUCKER AG: COO.

      • Management Board at LANXESS AG and BAYER Chemicals AG.

      • Doctorate and chemistry studies at the University of Münster.

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