Apheon appoints Mr. Peter Rikowski to its board of Senior Advisors

Apheon, the pan-European mid-market private equity firm, today announced the appointment of Mr. Peter Rikowski to its Board of Senior Advisors. Peter brings more than three decades of operating and board-level experience in family-owned and PE-backed businesses across FMCG, multi-channel retail, and B2B services. Peter's appointment adds to Apheon's bench of Senior Advisors who support the firm's investment team and portfolio company management teams across its core sectors of Healthcare, Services, Consumer and Niche Industrials.

Peter is currently CEO and Managing Partner of Tchibo Coffee Service GmbH – the B2B coffee machines and service arm of Tchibo, the German coffee roaster and multi-channel retailer founded in Hamburg in 1949 – where, since 2014, he has led the transformation of the business into an integrated service and digital systems platform. Before that, he spent five years as Board Member at Tchibo GmbH, responsible for omnichannel sales across Tchibo's own stores, its shop-in-shop locations in retail outlets, and e-commerce. Earlier, he was CEO and spokesperson for the management board of Bitburger Braugruppe for seven years, steering the group's five breweries and leading its FMCG brand strategy, including its sponsorship of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Alongside his executive roles, Peter has held a number of supervisory and advisory positions, including seats on the supervisory boards of Tchibo Austria and Tchibo Switzerland, advisory roles with Bitburger Braugruppe subsidiaries, and a seat on the shareholder committee of Meevo, a digital medical supply business. He has also served as an Advisory Board Member to the private equity firm IK Partners, working across acquisition, development, and divestiture of portfolio companies, and is an active private investor and board member across a number of start-ups.

As Senior Advisor, Peter will work alongside the investment team and portfolio company management, drawing on his direct experience of the challenges many businesses face: moving from founder-led or commodity structures to scaled, professionalised platforms; building out multi-channel and e-commerce distribution; expanding internationally; and using M&A and digitalisation to accelerate growth. His track record covers the mid-market, often family-owned businesses in Services and Consumer that sit at the centre of Apheon's strategy. In addition, his board experience with another mid-market PE firm gives him a working understanding of the governance and reporting rhythm portfolio companies need to get right.

Nils Lüssem, Partner at Apheon, commented, "Peter has spent his career building and growing the kind of businesses most of us only know from case studies: Tchibo, Bitburger, and now Tchibo Coffee Service. What stands out is how consistently he has turned commodity or legacy businesses into digitally led, internationally competitive platforms. That's precisely the playbook our portfolio companies need. We're delighted to have him alongside us."

Peter Rikowski commented, "I've spent most of my career on the operating side, building businesses through transformation, internationalisation, and, more recently, digitalisation. Apheon's approach – patient capital, close partnership with founders and management teams – is one I recognise and believe in. I'm looking forward to working with the team and the portfolio companies where I can be genuinely useful."

About Apheon
Apheon is a pan-European mid-market private equity investment Group managing ~€4.5 billion of assets from select global institutional investors and families. Apheon is characterized by its partnership approach, providing “patient and friendly capital” and industrial know-how to entrepreneurs and management teams, preparing their companies for the future. Through its pan-European footprint, the firm acts as a gateway into Europe for companies in the mid-market. Since its founding in 2005, Apheon has raised more than €5 billion in capital, invested in ~45 companies across Europe and completed ~250 add-on acquisitions for a total aggregate transaction value in excess of €9 billion. Apheon’s current portfolio consists of ~25 companies across its target sectors, representing ~€4 billion sales and more than 25,000 employees. Apheon is advised by Apheon Advisors, which has offices in Brussels, Milan, Madrid, Paris, Munich and Amsterdam. For more information, please visit www.apheon.com.

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For more information, please contact:

John Mansvelt, COO, Apheon
jm@apheon.com
T: +32 2 213 60 90

Natalia Yek, Head of Investor Relations, Apheon
ny@apheon.com
T: +32 2 213 60 90