Your adviser
Mathias Westerbarkei
Founder and managing shareholder, Westfälische Corporate Finance GmbH.
He supports you personally through the sale of your business, from the first conversation to receipt of the purchase price. Adviser to shareholders, advisory boards and business-owning families, with experience in industry, IT, renewable energy and construction.
One point of contact. No junior advisers.
25+ years
Experience in M&A, corporate finance and strategy
300+
M&A projects reviewed
10+
Transactions completed
€600 million
Revenue of the largest transaction under his responsibility
Career history
CLAAS KGaA mbH
1996 to 2014 · 18 years
Mathias Westerbarkei began his career in 1996 at CLAAS KGaA mbH, a leading family-owned mechanical engineering company with over €4 billion in revenue.
From 2004 to 2007, as Chief Finance Integration Officer, he led the finance integration of the Renault tractor division in France, with profit and loss responsibility and eight Franco-German teams.
In corporate development and, from 2011, as Head of Mergers & Acquisitions, he was responsible for ten strategic transactions in Europe, North America and China. These included the complete takeover of the Renault tractor division, with revenue of over €600 million. They also included the sales of CLAAS Fertigungstechnik to MBB Industries AG (now MBB SE) and of Brötje-Automation to Deutsche Beteiligungs AG, with combined revenue of over €200 million.
He also led earnings improvement programmes totalling around €100 million, several of them with consulting teams from McKinsey, BCG and Roland Berger.
DTS IT AG
2014 to 2016 · CFO / Head of Finance and Administration
From 2014 to 2016 he was CFO of DTS IT AG, responsible for finance and M&A. He cut financing costs by over 50% and founded a sales subsidiary.
Francotyp-Postalia Holding AG
2016 to 2017 · Head of Controlling
Responsible for controlling at the listed company, headquartered in Berlin.
Westfälische Corporate Finance GmbH
Since 2017 · Managing Director and Founding Shareholder
Since 2017 he has led Westfälische Corporate Finance GmbH. He advises mid-sized companies on succession, sales and financing, in sectors including mechanical engineering, IT, renewable energy and construction.
Today he combines this experience with a self-learning AI system that speeds up valuation, the search for buyers and value creation, and backs every figure with evidence.
Green in Business GmbH
Since 2022 · Co-founder
In 2022 he also co-founded Green in Business GmbH, which specialises in decarbonisation strategies and decentralised energy supply for companies and local authorities.
Goldbeck Group (family office)
2023 to 2025 · Investment Manager
From 2023 to 2025 he was an Investment Manager in the family office of the Goldbeck Group, where he looked after an investment portfolio, structured new fund investments and improved due diligence processes.
Boards, associations and publications
- Member of the supervisory board of Technische Werke Osning GmbH (2009 to 2014), a municipal energy utility.
- Non-executive member of the board of Renault Agriculture and of the Tractor Steering Committee at CLAAS.
- Participation in board and shareholder meetings at DTS and in advisory boards and shareholder bodies of Goldbeck Group portfolio companies.
- Founding member of the Verein für Post Merger Integration e.V. (now part of the Bundesverband Mergers & Acquisitions gem. e.V.) and still an active member.
- Member of the valuation working group of the Bundesverband Mergers & Acquisitions gem. e.V.
- Contributor to the standard German reference work “Post Merger Integration” by Gerds and Schewe (5th edition), with a chapter on the Renault Agriculture integration at CLAAS.
Education and personal background
Mathias Westerbarkei holds a Diplom-Betriebswirt (BA), a German degree in business administration, from the Berufsakademie Stuttgart, now Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW). He is fluent in French and English, including in negotiations.
He lives with his family in Westphalia, where he has been involved in community and political life for over 25 years. He is also a keen table tennis player.
Get to know me in person
Arrange a confidential initial consultation, free of charge and without obligation.