Capstan Capital Partners

Capstan Capital Partners

ABOUT

Capstan Capital is an independent, privately-owned investment banking advisory firm founded in 2009.
The two core areas of our firm comprise bespoke M&A advisory and delivering corporate finance solutions for special situations.
Our clients are corporations, financial sponsors, family offices, family-owned businesses and entrepreneurs.

With regards to industry sector focus, Capstan Capital is agnostic in principle whilst our firm has developed particular expertise in technology, digital media, logistics and business services, energy, maritime/shipping and multinational industrials.

We have assembled a group of senior investment banking professionals with deep sector and exceptional product experience from leading global financial institutions.

Our partners share a common vision based on integrity, client focus, exceptional service and trust, which manifests itself into our principal objective of serving the best interests of our clients.

The Firm has an extensive network of relationships and has unique access to specialist investors across the entire capital structure.

We leverage these networks, in tandem with our intellectual capital, to craft innovative and conflict-free solutions to achieve our client’s strategic and financing objectives.

INVESTMENT BANKING TEAM

Konstantin Krebs
Managing Partner
Co-Founder
Steffen Bassler
Managing Partner
Darius Garkisch
Managing Partner
Marco Severi
Partner
Colin Wheeler
Partner
Daniel Waterman
PARTNER
Roman Wolkowski
Partner
Alexandros Kriezis-Carrer
Associate Partner
Peer Grünewald
Managing Director
Jan Kühnbaum
ASSOCIATE PARTNER
Aaron Sen
ASSOCIATE PARTNER
Winfried Weigel
Associate Partner
Manolis Skourtis
ASSOCIATE PARTNER, GREECE
David Mamatsashvili
Associate Partner, CEE
Adam Habib
Special Situations Advisor
Jamie Inch
Senior Analyst
Elizabeth Lawler
SENIOR ADVISOR
Sarah E. Cakebread
General Counsel
Martin Hobbs
Senior Counsel
Sven Peter
Board Advisor
Antonio Kwong
SENIOR ADVISOR
Louise Abbott-Little
Human Resources

CHARITY/IMPACT​

We partner with this exceptional charity as we believe that overcoming one’s fears and mastering a big challenge can have a profound and long-lasting impact on a young person’s confidence and self-esteem, both vital elements to develop their dreams to full potential. This unique charity helps to build the motivational fabric of our younger generation that will naturally define everyone’s future.

CHARITY/IMPACT​


We partner with this exceptional charity as we believe that overcoming one’s fears and mastering a big challenge can have a profound and long-lasting impact on a young person’s confidence and self-esteem, both vital elements to develop their dreams to full potential. This unique charity helps to build the motivational fabric of our younger generation that will naturally define everyone’s future.

 

The European Fee Council is the umbrella organisation
in Europe for price transparency in the field of professional advice
(lawyers, auditors, tax consultants etc.)

Konstantin Krebs

Biography

  • CEO and Managing Partner at Capstan Capital since 2009
  • 9 years with Credit Suisse, Structured Solutions Group, Corporate and Investor client coverage for the Germany/Austria region
  • Managing Director, Head of Capital Markets coverage EMEA and USA at WestLB
  • Investor Solutions Group GSA at Merrill Lynch
  • Holds university degrees from ESCP Europe (Paris), Berlin and Oxford: Diplôme de Grande Ecole, Diplom-Kaufmann and Masters in Management

Steffen Bassler

Biography

  • Steffen has over 15 years’ experience in Investment Banking as European Head at Credit Suisse, Strategy Consulting and Asset Management. He actively serves as board member for SwissOne Capital AG, a Swiss Crypto Asset Management firm. Before this role he worked as a consultant in strategy and corporate finance mandates in Swiss industry and Finance companies for Arthur D. Little. After his studies he started with an international trainee program for Daimler Financial Services AG with stations in Canada, Berlin, Puerto Rico and Madrid.
  • He holds a MBA (Dipl-.Kfm.) degree in Finance & Entrepreneurship at the European Business School (ebs) in Germany, is FCA-(UK) as well as Swiss Board School (HSG)-certified for advisory boards and actively serves as board member. Steffen is also engaged as business angel for Swiss start-up companies, regularly publishes articles in several Swiss business & economic publications and is university lecturer for Corporate Finance at the European Business School (ebs) in Germany.

Darius Garkisch

Biography

  • Managing Partner at Capstan Capital since 2019
  • Prior, Head of Corporate Loan Origination at RiverBank, and Managing Director in Capital Markets & Derivatives at IKB Deutsche Industriebank
  • Senior Director and Director positions with RBS in Global Banking & Markets and Credit Suisse in Global Markets Solutions
  • 10+ years in Investment Banking Division and Global Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley
  • Holds Dipl.-Kaufmann university degree from University of Passau, Germany

Marco Severi

Biography

  • Director at Capstan Capital since 2012
  • 4 years investment structuring at Morgan Stanley
  • Extensive international experience in business development for the telecoms industry
  • Holds an MBA degree from Yale School of Management

Colin Wheeler

Biography

  • Partner at Capstan Capital since 2024
  • Previously Partner at Ciesco London M&A and origination in media, marketing communications, digital and technology.
  • Global Director at WPP managing Vodafone business across 40+ markets, strategy development and acquisition opportunity realisation.
  • Managing Director and Executive Vice President positions at multinational marketing communication companies including global strategy direction for Merrill Lynch CICG and Private Client businesses. 
  • BA  Marketing and Marketing Communications from the University of the Arts London

Dan Waterman

Biography

  • Associate Partner Climate Investing
  • Co-Founder Sustainable Investing LLP
  • Board Member & Chair Sustainability Committee of the Transatlantic Council of the BSA (Scouts)
  • Specialist Equity Sales at Merrill Lynch (BofA), Banco Santander, ExaneBNPParibas & Bankhaus Lampe
  • CFA Climate Investing Certification Holder; Economics & German Literature degrees from Trinity College, Hartford CT

Roman Wolkowski

Biography

  • Partner at Capstan Capital since 2015
  • Associate Partner, Head of Corporate Finance and Mergers & Acquisitions at SMC, a German M&A advisory boutique
  • Director at Transfer Partners Group, one of the exclusive cooperation partners of Deutsche Bank for small- and mid-cap M&A transactions in Germany
  • Holds university degrees Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Master of Mergers & Acquisitions from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (Germany) as well as Diplom-Betriebswirt and Bachelor of Business Administration from Fontys International Business School (Netherlands)

Alexandros Kriezis-Carrer

Biography

  • Associate Partner since 2024
  • Former Director and Head of Corporate Banking of Alpha Bank, Greece, with +20 years of wholesale banking experience.
  • Extensive knowledge on the Greek corporate and investment landscape. 
  • Board member of commercial as well as non-profit companies.
  • Holds a BSc in Mathematics & Statistics from Surrey University and an MSc in Finance from Imperial College Business School.

Peer Grünewald

Biography

  • Managing Director of Capstan Corporate Finance
  • Founder & Managing Partner of Oyster Marine GmbH & Co. KG
  • Former Managing Director at Hanseatic Unity GmbH & Co. KG
  • Former Managing Director & Partner at Asiatic Lloyd Shipbrokers Pte. Ltd.

Jan Kühnbaum

Biography

  • Associate Partner at Capstan Capital since 2022
  • Vice President of Business Development at Seaspan Corporation
  • Managing Director of Martrade Shipping & Transport and Global Head of Shipping at Martrade Group
  • Managing Director of H. Schuldt (Singapore)
  • Managing Director and Founder of V.Star (Shanghai)
  • Holds an MBA degree from Hamburg School of Business Administration

Aaron Sen

Biography

  • Associate Partner at Capstan Capital since 2022
  • Head of Business Development Europe at Seaspan Corporation
  • Head of Shipping at Mount Street
  • MD and Deputy Global Head of Shipping at NORD/LB
  • Senior positions at Credit Agricole and Dresdner Kleinwort
  • Holds an MBA degree from ESSEC and Mannheim

Winfried Weigel

Biography

  • Associate Partner
  • Consultant to the Board Telekom Austria AG and A1 Mobilkom Austria AG
  • Managing Director UBS AG, Investment Banking, Zurich
  • Vice President J.P. Morgan, General Advisory Group, Emerging Markets Group, London

Manolis Skourtis

Biography

  • Associate Partner (Greece)
  • Appointed monitoring trustee of Piraeus Bank by the EU DG
  • Head of M&A and Restructuring at KPMG
  • CFO of a number of large multinational Greek companies

David Mamatsashvili

Biography

  • Associate Partner at Capstan Capital since 2015
  • Head of Operations at Informap, a London based Technology and Software Company
  • Diplomatic career with over 10 years in the Georgian Foreign Service
  • Responsible for economic and commercial affairs at the Embassy of Georgia in London
  • Member of the Kosovo Verification Mission of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 1998-99

Adam Habib

Biography

  • Special Situations Adviser Capstan since 2019
  • Senior Adviser to the Board of Cofely Endel Engie Group 
  • Credit Suisse: Managing Director and Head of EMEA Structured Products and member of the Distribution Management Committee
  • Lehman Brothers: Managing Director and Head of EMEA Structured Products 
  • ICBC Standard Bank plc: Managing Director Commodities 
  • MSc from CASS Business School

Jamie Inch

Biography

  • Senior Analyst with Capstan since 2023
  • Prior work experience in the fields of Investment Management and Corporate Law at Hamish Leng and Company and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
  • BSc in Politics and Economics (LSE)

Elizabeth Lawler

Biography

  • Partner at Refinery Investments (Boston)
  • Founder of cyber security software company Conjur (now CyberArk Conjur)
  • Elizabeth Lawler is currently a Partner at Refinery Investments in Boston and a VC investor with XXAngels. Prior to becoming a prominent US investor in technology companies, she was the CEO of Conjur, a DevOps security company she co-founded. Conjur was acquired in 2017 by CyberArk, a NASDAQ listed global leader in enterprise-level cyber security software, where Elizabeth became Vice President responsible for the group’s DevOps business strategy and execution. In 2019, Elizabeth stepped down from her executive role at CyberArk to focus on her investment activities. She remains an advisor to the firm.
  • Elizabeth looks back at over 20 years of experience working in highly regulated and sensitive data environments. Before co-founding Conjur, her earlier roles include Chief Data Officer of Generation Health (acq. CVS Caremark) and several leadership positions in research at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  • She has been a programmer herself and is constantly working to help organizations move to software delivery models that support greater business agility. In supporting entrepreneurship in this sector, she advises several Boston based start-ups and various venture investment firms internationally. She has a PhD in Epidemiology and a Masters of Public Health and is active in her community assisting various non-profits.

Sarah E. Cakebread

Biography

  • General Counsel
  • Formerly Senior In-House Counsel at a Global Investment Bank and Wealth Manager
  • Called to the Bar of England and Wales
  • LLB and LLM from University College London, University of London

Martin Hobbs

Biography

  • General Counsel
  • More than 19 years of experience as a legal counsel
  • Prev. member of various leadership regimes: Morse plc, Iris, Mobile Money Network
  • Specialization: Corporate- and commercial law

Sven Peter

Biography

  • Board Advisor at Capstan and CEO of Credit Capital Corporation
  • Managing Director at Strategic Value Partners
  • Partner and Co-Head, Europe, Capital Markets Advisory at Lazard
  • Global Co-Head of Equity Capital Markets at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein

Antonio Kwong

Biography
  • CEO of International Group 蝨矩圀髮・恫 Hong Kong
  • Vice Chairman of the Consumer Council
  • Antonio continues to enjoy an illustrious career in Hong Kong’s commercial and public sectors : he is Chief Executive of the International Group, a real estate development company focusing on significant projects within the Hong Kong property market.  Besides his corporate executive roles, he holds board appointments with numerous public councils and committees, overseeing matters at the very heart of Hong Kong’s citizens.  Among others, Antonio serves as Chairman of the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health and Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong’s Consumer Council.  He also sits on the boards of a Civic Education committee, the Management of Chinese Permanent Cemeteries, the appeal board of Amusement Games Centres, two public Councils for Medicine, a Family Service Centre and a Youth Development Network.
  • Besides his many formal positions, Antonio ardently supports philanthropic initiatives both through the Lok Sin Tong Benevolent Society in Kowloon and as founding patron of Hong Kong’s M+ Museum.  Antonio’s philanthropic accomplishments are no better recognised than through his award of the Medal of Honour by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China in 2014.
  • Antonio is an alumnus of Rugby School in the UK and read Pharmacology at King’s College, University of London.  He later obtained a Bachelors of Law from City University, London, following which he undertook the Legal Practitioners Course and was admitted as a Solicitor in Hong Kong (non-practising).