Winfried M. Carli is a partner in the Finance practice.  

He has extensive experience in domestic and cross‐border bank finance and restructuring matters, with a particular focus on acquisition financings.

Winfried represents national and international private equity firms, financial institutions, debt funds and companies on all types of debt transactions.

Winfried regularly publishes and lectures on financing and restructuring issues. He is cited as one of the leading banking and finance lawyers in Germany in the most recent editions of Chambers Europe/Global and IFLR1000 (ranked as Leading Lawyer), JUVE Handbook (ranked as Leading Lawyer for Banking and Acquisition Finance) and The Legal 500 (Leading Lawyers – Finance)  and ranked among “Germany's Best Lawyers 2022” by Handelsblatt. Recently, Winfried was ranked as a “Lawyer of the Year 2022” by Handelsblatt and “Legal All Stars 2021“ by WirtschaftsWoche for Banking and Finance.

Clients praise Winfried Carli as "powerhouse for leveraged finance work." (Chambers Europe/Global, 2022)

• EMZ Partners on the financing of the acquisition of a majority stake in FotoFinder Systems GmbH
• CVC Credit on the financing for Ufenau-backed Altano Group
• Trill Impact on the financing of the acquisition of a majority stake in karriere tutor GmbH
• Equistone/Sihl Group on the financing of the acquisition of Dietzgen Corporation
• EOS Partners on the financing of the acquisition of SRG | SERVE Schaltanlagensysteme Group
• Equistone/Amadys on the financing of the acquisition of Muth Kommunikationstechnik
• Equistone/TIMETOACT GROUP on the financing of the acquisition of PKS Software GmbH
• Pinova Capital on the financing of the acquisition of Sematell GmbH
• Gilde Buy Out Partners, EMERAM Capital Partners and D. Stocksmeier on the financing for ]init[ Aktiengesellschaft für digitale Kommunikation
• Barings on the financing of the acquisition of Sage Schweiz AG and Run my Accounts AG by Warburg Pincus
• EOS Partners/mod IT Services GmbH on the financing of the acquisition of profi.com
• Flex Capital on the financing for Marbis (Nitrado), APEX Hosting and MCProHosting
• Paragon on the financing of the acquisition of a majority stake in KME SPECIAL
• ECM, PINOVA Capital and Gilde Healthcare on the financing of the acquisition of DETAX Group
• Ares on the refinancing of Ufenau-backed X1F
• Capza on the financing of the acquisition of CSS AG by Carlyle
• Commerzbank on the financing of the acquisition of STEIN HGS Gruppe by IK Partners
• FLEX Capital on the financing of the acquisition of AMPAREX GmbH and IPRO GmbH
• Tikehau Capital on the refinancing of 3i-backed A-Z Gartenhaus GmbH
• EMZ Partners on the financing of the acquisition of a majority stake in Pipersberg
• Marlin Equity Partners on the financing of the acquisition of a majority stake in COYO GmbH
• Vendis Capital on the financing of the acquisition of a BlueBrixx and Model Car World
• Armira on the financing of the acquisition of a majority investment in Salesfive
• Equistone on the financing of the acquisition of a majority stake in TIMETOACT GROUP
• Berenberg on the financing of the acquisition of GBA by Ardian
• HQ Equita on the financing of the acquisition of indevis
• LEA Partners on the financing of the acquisition of B+M Group and Base-Net Informatik AG
• Allgaier Automotive on a comprehensive restructuring of its financing
• Silverfleet Capital on a recapitalization of Pumpenfabrik Wangen
• Cathay Capital and Hohnhaus & Jansenberger on the acquisition financing of medifa healthcare group
• BNP Paribas and LBBW on the financing of the acquisition of Canyon Bike by GBL
• EMERAM/Boards & More on the acquisition financing of SQlab
• FLEX Capital on a financing for formware and nic
• Silverfleet Capital on the financing of the acquisition of ec4u and BULPROS (DIGITALL)
• Equistone on the financing of the acquisitions of, inter alia, Kusters Beheer, Amadys, Infraconcepts, Heras, SER Hegn, Omnicare, RENA Group, BOAL Group, DefShop, GALA Kerzen, Ramesh Flowers, Korona, JewelCandle, TriStyle, Long Tall Sally, SportGroup, Astroturf and ProGrass
• apoBank on the acquisition financing Meona Group and i-SOLUTIONS by Trill Impact
• Telemos Capital on the financing of Sanoptis
• EMZ Partners on the financing of the acquisition of a significant minority share in celebrate company
• IK Partners on the financing of Quanos, TID Informatik and Docware
• Paragon Partners on the financing of the acquisition of Castolin Eutectic
• OLB on the financing of the acquisition of Stürtz Group by capiton
• Lenders on the financings for Allgeier SE and Nagarro SE
• NordLB on the financing of the acquisition of Tenié and Gores by EMERAM
• Hayfin on the acquisition financing of WEKA by Paragon
• Banks on the financing of the acquisition of Leupold by Waterland
• Lenders on the financing of the acquisition of B plus L by DPE
• Lenders on the financing of the acquisition of Ai Fitness Group by NORD Holding
• CAPZA on the financing for the acquisition of MDT technologies by IK
• EMZ Partners on the financing of the acquisition of a stake in Ankerkraut  
• Ardian Private Debt on the financing of the acquisition of SER Group by Carlyle
• LEA Partner on a financing for LANDWEHR Group, prosoft and BackOffice
• Armira on the financing of the sale of Mehler Vario System Group to DPE
• HCOB and OLB on the financing of Ondal by IK Partners
• Commerzbank on the financing of the acquisition of EA Elektro-Automatik by Bregal
• Muzinich on the financing of the acquisition of SLF and STI by Avedon
• Lenders on the financing of DPE portfolio company Primutec and various add-on acquisitions
• Permira Debt Managers (PDM) on the financing of the acquisition of ]init[ by EMERAM
• Armira on the financing of the acquisition of a majority stake in Scheu-Dental Group
• EQT Credit, SEB and HCOB on a €331 million unitranche financing for IK-backed Alanta Health Group
• UniCredit and DZ Bank on the financing of the acquisition of a majority share in AVANTGARDE
• Silverfleet, inter alia, on the financing of the acquisition of INEOS’ melamines & paraform business, Prefere Resins, 7days, Pumpenfabrik Wangen, Praxis Herning and CCC as well as on the refinancing of Kalle
• VIA Equity on the financing of the acquisition of SEMA
• Ares on the refinancing of Intelligent Repair Solutions Group
• EMERAM Capital Partners, inter alia, on the financing of the acquisition of frostkrone, Rite Stuff Foods, Piz'wich, Innovate Foods and Abergavenny Foods Ltd and Drahtzug Stein as well as on the refinancing of Boards & More
• Lenders on the financing of the acquisition of KLINGEL by IK Partners and various add-on acquisitions
• PINOVA on the financing of the acquisition of WMD Group, Deurowood, WEETECH and Utimaco
• capiton on the financing of the acquisition of a majority stake in Magix Software
• Cathay Capital on the financing of the acquisition of E. WINKEMANN and WST Präzisionstechnik
• EQT Credit on the financing of the acquisition of Studienkreis by IK Partners
• LBBW and BayernLB on a €400 million financing for Hirschvogel Automotive
• Crescent Capital on the refinancing of 3B Scientific Group
• VTC on the financing of the acquisition and refinancing of JK-Holding
• Commerzbank, inter alia, on the refinancing of WITTE Automotive
• SEB on the financing of the acquisition of exocad by Carlyle
• Avenue Capital, BlueBay and others on the financing of the acquisition of Wheaton Industries and Kimble Chase by Duran/One Equity Partners
• Luxempart and BIP on the financing of the acquisition of arwe by Alcentra
• ING, LBBW, BNP and Deutsche Bank on the financing of the acquisition of Affinia by MANN+HUMMEL
• L-GAM on the financing of the acquisition of FAIS

Awards & Accolades

• Winfried M. Carli is cited as one of the leading banking and finance lawyers in Germany in the most recent editions of IFLR 1000, Chambers Global and Chambers Europe, listed as recommended lawyer in the most recent editions of JUVE and The Legal 500 and ranked among “Germany's Best Lawyers 2019” by Handelsblatt.
• In the Chambers Global edition of 2019, he is respected by clients for his “excellent combination of commercial thinking and technical knowledge”.
• According to the 2018 edition of Chambers Global “Winfried Carli is held in high esteem by clients, who praise his commercial understanding and consideration of economic factors.”