Strong, Focused & Proficient Management with Experience in Mergers & Acquisitions, Joint Venture, Strategic Alliance, Technical Collaboration, Funding And So On

Nikhil Deshpande- Managing Partner & CEO

Nikhil is a Graduate in Science (Physics) and Post Graduate in Management Studies from Pune University-one of the top-most Universities in the world. He is also a Google certified Digital Marketing Expert and currently persuing Ph. D. in Mergers and Acquisitions from Amity University.

Nikhil has acquired an experience of over 20 years in the field of Banking & Investment Banking and carries some of the top brands in his career including HDFC Bank Ltd, ICICI Group, Citi Group, and so on. With the experience of mobilizing over 50 cross-border transactions, he has achieved a high level of proficiency in structuring transactions for the companies from US, Europe, the UK & India.

Nikhil heads the M&A function in ASPERA International and takes care of the complete deal cycle- right from Deal Origination to Deal Execution.

Vibha Joshi- Vice President (Corporate Communications, HR & Admin)

Vibha is a seasoned professional in the industry with a strong education in commerce; she also possesses extraordinary excellence in International Communication. She has proven and diversified experience of over 15 years in the fields of Software, Financial Services, and Real Estate. She has been recognized with various awards during her career.

In ASPERA, Vibha takes care of Global Networking, Corporate Communication, Human Resource Management, and General Administration.

Geoff Hancock – M&A Partner & Consultant- UK Business

Geoff is a seasoned Automotive Industry professional carrying over 40 years of experience. He carries wide, diversified and impressive skill-sets including Quality, Sales & Marketing, Key Account Management and so on. While working as Managing Director, he successfully implemented various growth strategies for many companies.

Having achieved a Masters Degree back in 2003, he has since worked with brands such as JCB, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Bentley, Land Rover and Aston Martin.

Geoff has remarkable and strong business network in all the five continents of the world. His impeccable connections has helped many firms to expand their business in China, India and other Asian Region.

Currently Geoff is running his own consulting firm where he helps companies in the area of:

1. Personal Development & Training

2. Business & Commercial Development

3. Performance Management

4. International Liaison & Introduction

Geoff is associated with ASPERA and participates in Cross-Border M&A deals between India-UK.

Piercesare Villa- M&A Partner- Italy

Piercesare is a graduate in Economics from the University of Cattolica & is enrolled on the Register of Professional Accountants and Auditors. Having a professional experience of over 30 years, Piercesare has gained impressive expertise in Mergers & Acquisition.

Piercesare started his career from 1985 and as a professional gained expertise in financial domain by working with some of the best brands in the industry including “Arthur Andersen”, “Unione Fiduciaria S.p.a.”, “Polis S.G.R.p.a.” (management company of real estate funds, set up by 14 cooperative banks; Polis Fund , was the second real estate fund listed on Milan Stock Exchange). He started his own business in the year 2001 and since then participated and executed over 40 transactions.

Riccardo Bàrbera M&A Partner- Italy

With over 26 years of experience in finance domain, Riccardo has gained his expertise in the field of Investment banking. Graduated from University of Bocconi with Degree in Business administration, Riccardo has participated in operations of some of the best companies in the industry including Arthur Andersen S.p.a. (Deloitte), Unione Fiduciaria S.p.a., trust and consultancy company owned by a group of ”Banche popolari”, Gallo & C. S.p.a., M&A company owned by Meliorbanca Group and Cofiri S.p.a., an investment bank acquired by the Capitalia/Unicredit Group. Since 2005, he Joined ARCADIA Financial Advisors S. r. l. as a CEO and recognized as the industry expert in the field of M&A.

Manoj Wad- Corporate Lawyer (M&A)

Manoj has professional experience of 30 years and professional qualifications of B.Com (Honours) from the Shriram College of Commerce, Delhi in 1984 and LL.B from the Delhi University in 1987. In 1988 he received a scholarship from Cambridge University, U.K to study for LL.M and in 1989 an opportunity to work in Clifford Chance, one of the largest law firms in the U.K.

Worked with well-known lawyers like Mr. Kapil Sibal and Mr. Soli Sorabjee the Ex-Attorney general for India. In 1996 he qualified as an Advocate on Record of the Supreme Court.

Handled legal disputes or cases in all the major courts and tribunals like the Supreme Court, High Court, Civil Court, Company Law Board, Consumer Court, BIFR , AAIFR and CEGAT.

Since 2000 he heads the Pune office of his law firm J. S. Wad & Co. Areas of practice and specialization are

Drafting and vetting of 150 kinds of domestic and international contracts including Director’s and Officer’s Indemnity (D&O) contracts .

1. Mergers and Acquisitions.

2. Legal Due Diligence Reviews for Acquisitions.

3. Providing legal opinions on issues related to contracts and company law.

4. Advising on legal strategy in case of potential disputes and coordinating litigation in all the major cities in India through our associate law firms.

5. Investigation into corporate frauds using forensic legal audit.

6. Corporate Training on contracts and Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH)

7. Commercial litigation of all kinds.

Some of well-known past and present clients are the Cyrus Poonawalla group, Honeywell, Wipro, Accenture, Kirloskar Brothers and KEPL, L&T, Tom Tom, DelOrto, Seebach, Bodycote, L&T, Pyrotech.

Manoj works with a team of specialists in Property law, Labour law, IPR law, International Taxation and Company Secretaries, to provide end to end legal solutions to small and medium foreign companies setting up business in India.

Harald J. Tomaselli- M&A Partner (Germany)

Harald studied Industrial Engineering (Dipl. Wirtsch.-Ing.) at the University of Kaiserslautern in Germany and Production Engineering (MSc) at the University of Birmingham in the UK.

After completing his studies, he worked on lean production processes for several years within Daimler AG Human Resources Division before joining Oliver Wyman/Mercer Management Consulting, a renowned international management consulting firm, in the mid-1990s. In his ten-year career there, he was responsible for national and international strategy as well as restructuring and advisory projects, most recently in the role of Automative Practice Partner.

Since 2004, he has been a partner at investment banking consultancies with a focus on German SMEs, responsible for the successful implementation of many M&A and corporate finance projects.

Harald is a founding partner of benten capital and author of various publications such as “Unternehmenstransaktionen im Mittelstand in Baden-Württemberg”.

Dr. Florian Eisele M&A Partner (Germany)

Florian studied Business Administration (Dipl.-Kfm.) majoring in finance, accounting, business taxation and controlling at the University of Tübingen, Texas A&M University and the University of Saarland. Following his studies, he returned to the University of Tübingen, where, as a research associate, he gained a doctorate (Dr. rer. pol.) focused on the finance sector.

He then moved to the Finance Division of Daimler AG. There, most recently as a manager, he dealt primarily with matters relating to value-oriented management and valuation. He subsequently held roles heading up the finance divisions of stock-market listed SMEs. The first of these was as Head of Finance and Controlling at a plant engineering company, while the second was as Finance Director at a TecDAX-listed mechanical engineering company.

Florian has many years of broad experience in the fields of M&A and corporate finance as well as restructuring and reorganisation in both managerial and advisory positions within SMEs and international corporations.

He is also a partner at benten capital since 2014, he has been responsible for the successful implementation of a variety of M&A and corporate finance projects. He is also the author of a number of research-focused and applied publications in the area of finance and accounting.

Ali Taşbaşı- M&A Partner (Germany)

Ali is the M&A Partner at ASPERA & also a founding partner and managing director of ROOTS Advisory.

Ali has over 20 years of experience in corporate finance advisory and has executed a large number of transactions for family owned businesses, corporations and private equity with an focus on cross-border transactions.

Ali has built up special expertise in the service, pharmaceutical, fashion, industrial goods, consumer goods, telecommunications and financial services (banks / insurance companies) sectors.

Previously, he gained experience as an Executive Board Member of a mid cap corporate finance house in Germany. Furthermore Ali was an Managing Partner of the M&A Advisory House, M&A International GmbH.

Ali studied political science with a major in economics and international relations at the “Johann Wolfgang Goethe University” in Frankfurt am Main.

He is the author of various publications / specialist papers and a speaker at conferences and events. Ali is a member of the board of the charitable Peter Ustinov Foundation, Frankfurt.