Wilfried Schmidt

European Chairman
United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7856 0902
wilfried.schmidt@dcadvisorypartners.com

Wilfried Schmidt was appointed Chairman of Daiwa Corporate Advisory Partners, the holding company of DC Advisory Partners, in 2010. He has been Vice Chairman of Daiwa Capital Markets Europe since 2006.

Wilfried joined Daiwa Securities Co Ltd in Tokyo in 1991. His career with the group has included various assignments in the international underwriting division and the corporate finance and investment banking divisions in Tokyo, London and Frankfurt. He was previously President of Daiwa Germany GmbH. He serves as a member of the EUREX Exchange Council.

Wilfried began his career as a diplomat, including three assignments in Tokyo. He studied at Moscow State University for International Relations and at Harvard Business School. His hobbies include classical music, literature, fine arts and boating.

Paul Mullins

European Chief Executive
United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7856 9435
paul.mullins@dcadvisorypartners.com

Paul joined DC Advisory Partners in January 2011 as European Chief Executive.

Prior to joining DC Advisory, Paul spent six years at Bank of America where he initially established and built the European M&A team. He then took over the pan-European Global Industries & Natural Resources sector team.

Paul’s career in banking has spanned 30 years at Schroders, Citigroup and BofA both in Europe and the US. He has extensive experience in the Industrials, Automotive and Utilities sectors, advising both regulated and public companies. He has advised on both UK and cross-border M&A.

Paul is currently a Commissioner for The Commission on Ownership as well as a member of the Industrial Development Advisory Board. He graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Jurisprudence.

Gwénaël de Sagazan

Chief Executive
France

Telephone: +33 (0) 1 42 12 49 67
gwenael.desagazan@dcadvisorypartners.com

Prior to joining DC Advisory Partners (formerly Close Brothers SAS) Gwénaël de Sagazan worked for 14 years in the Corporate Banking division of HSBC France, first as a Director then as a Managing Director. In that role, he advised numerous transactions for financial sponsors, and in the sectors of transports and specialised retail.

Gwénaël de Sagazan started his career with Groupe Total, and subsequently with Morgan Grenfell. Gwénaël has worked on Private Equity as a Director of Investment in the financial subsidiaries of the Elf Aquitaine’s Group (1992 – 1993).

Gwénaël de Sagazan is a graduate of HEC.

Christophe Brière

Managing Director
France

Telephone: +33 (0) 1 42 12 49 13
christophe.briere@dcadvisorypartners.com

Christophe is Managing Director and Head of the Financial Institutions Group in France.

Christophe has advised on numerous transactions in the leisure, TMT and financial services sectors. More recently, Christophe has advised on transactions in the insurance, asset management, brokerage and financial services sectors, working for companies such as Amlin, CASA, BPCE; Crédit Mutuel, Willis, and the family shareholders of Gras Savoye.

Christophe joined DC Advisory Partners (formerly Close Brothers SAS) in 2003. Prior to that he spent six years in the M&A teams with Paribas and Andersen Corporate Finance; and time with BNP Paribas Inspection Générale. Christophe is a graduate of Reims Management School.

David Benin

Managing Director
France

Telephone: +33 (0) 1 42 12 49 67
david.benin@dcadvisorypartners.com

David joined DC Advisory Partners (formerly Close Brothers SAS) as a Managing Director in January 2009 from Morgan Stanley. He is co-responsible for the coverage of the General Industrial Sector for France and Belgium.

Since 1997, David has advised on numerous corporate transactions ranging from acquisitions, disposals, public offers, capital increases to financial restructurings. Corporate clients have included Veolia, Saint Gobain, Suez, Safran, Nexter, Alcatel-Lucent, Faiveley, Cie Générale de Géophysique, Johnson Control, PPR, Caisses d’Epargne, Cadbury Schweppes and Publicis. He also frequently advised private equity clients, amongst which Carlyle, Cinven, PAI, Alpha, Astorg, Atria and Sagard.

David started his career in 1990 at Arthur Andersen. He subsequently entered investment banking with Lehman Brothers and Rothschild & Cie. He is a graduate of the university of Paris-Dauphine, the College of Europe (M’Phil in Economics) and also holds a MBA from the London Business School.

Nadine Veldung

Managing Director
France

Telephone: +33 (0) 1 42 12 49 67
nadine.veldung@dcadvisorypartners.com

Nadine Veldung was appointed Managing Director in DC Advisory Partners (formerly Close Brothers) Paris, in November 2009. Nadine heads the Debt Advisory and Restructuring Practice in France.

Prior to joining DC Advisory Partners, Nadine was the head of West LB France where she spent 16 years and was in charge of the French, Italian and Spanish activities as well as co-head of Banque d’Orsay.

Nadine previously was Senior TMT Banker for EMEA after having held several commercial positions.

Nadine began her career as a credit analyst at Dresdner Bank. She acted as Bookrunner / Arranger / Underwriter for LBO, Acquisition Finance, Corporate Finance as well as Asset Backed and Vendor Finance deals for a wide range of clients, including multinational corporates and family owned companies. In addition she has a sound restructuring expertise under various juridisdictions.

Nadine graduated in Economics (Diplom Kaufmann) from Sarrebruck University in Germany.

Jean Christophe Quiniou

Managing Director
France

Telephone: +33 (0) 1 42 12 49 21
jean-christophe.quiniou@dcadvisorypartners.com

Jean Christophe joined DC Advisory Partners (formerly Close Brothers SAS) in 2004 as a Director in the Advanced Manufacturing team. In January 2009, he was appointed Executive Director in charge of the Environment team in France. He remains a key member of the Advanced Manufacturing team focusing on specific segments such as Railway, Energy, Capital Goods and Packaging.

He has advised international groups, family-owned businesses and private equity clients on a number of domestic and cross-border transactions, primarily M&A in these two sectors. Major clients include Suez Environnement, Saur Group, Schneider Electric, EDF, Vallourec, Sidel, LBO France, 3i, Apollo.

Jean Christophe is a graduate of the Magistère Banque Finance from the Paris Panthéon University and holds a Master’s Degree in Banking and Finance. He began his investment banking career in 2000 with WestLB M&A in London within the High Tech Engineering team.

Patrick Coze

Managing Director
France

Telephone: +33 (0) 1 42 12 49 12
patrick.coze@dcadvisorypartners.com

Prior to joining DC Advisory Partners, Patrick Coze worked for 6 years in the Corporate and Investment Banking division of Société Générale as co-head of the Consumer, Retail and Luxury Goods M&A practice.  In that role, he has been involved in numerous transactions, mostly cross-border, for large corporates as well as Private Equity funds.

Patrick Coze has over 20 years of experience in M&A, acquired at Paribas, UBS, ABN Amro and Société Générale.  He heads the Consumer & Retail sector at DC Advisory Partners SAS.

Patrick Coze is a graduate of HEC.