2019
Partner at Schellenberg Wittmer
Christoph Vonlanthen
(The following information was supplied by the firm)
Partner
Christoph Vonlanthen is a specialist in mergers & acquisitions, growth equity, corporate governance and capital markets.
Christoph is a partner based both in our Geneva and Zurich offices, and has vast experience accumulated in Switzerland, New York, and London in market-leading transactions, including buyouts, divestitures, spin-merge transactions, exchange offers, carve-outs, rights offerings and IPOs in a range of industries. He regularly advises strategics, financial sponsors and investment banks on complex cross-border assignments. Christoph also assists fund managers and institutional investors on structured investments, co-investments and secondary sale transactions.
Expertise
Experience
- Christoph advises clients on large and complex public and private M&A transactions across multiple industries, including tech, pharma, healthcare, asset management, banking, insurance, infrastructure, retail, and transportation. Christoph has recently advised a consortium of private investors in the carve-out acquisition of retail industry leader Conforama Switzerland, a shipping company in its more than $1.5 billion spin-merge transaction; a real estate company in its £1.5 billion all-share merger; a pharma company in its $3.5 billion acquisition of a generic drug manufacturer; and a private equity firm in its secondary buy-out of a global security services provider.
- Christoph has advised clients on many of their strategically significant capital markets and corporate matters, including IPO, follow-on equity offerings, investment grade debt offerings and rights offerings. Among other assignments, Christoph has advised one of the largest publicly traded European investment holding companies on its IPO; an oil and gas group in its more than $3 billion high grade debt offerings; and a global full-service bank in its $15 billion rights offering.
- Christoph’s experience in leveraged finance includes multiple assignments in high-yield bond offerings, bridge loans and liability management. Experience highlights include advising the underwriters in a £500 million bridge-to-bond financing for the acquisition of a specialty insurance group; the underwriters to a major car manufacturer in its inaugural £1 billion equivalent offering of high-yield bonds and multiple follow-on offerings; and a global telecommunication company in its more than $2 billion comprehensive liability management transactions.
- Christoph has also assisted institutional investors and family offices on anchor and seed investments, co-investments and secondary trades. Most recently, Christoph has advised a large European investment holding company in its more than $150 million seed investment in a global technology fund.
Career
Professional Experience
2006-2019
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in London and New York
2003-2005
Associate in a Swiss business law firm
Education and Admission
2007
Bar Admission in New York
2006
LL.M., University of Pennsylvania
2003
Bar Admission in Switzerland
2001
lic. iur., University of Fribourg
Recognitions
- IFLR 1000: Rising Star Partner, Capital Markets and M&A
- Legal 500: Capital Markets, 2021-2022; Commercial, Corporate and M&A 2022
- Leaders League: Banking & Finance, Capital Markets 2021-2022
Languages
- English
- French
- German