About us

Founded in 2004 by Dr. Jörg Nowak, ORCA Consulting Group is an international strategy consulting, M&A advisory, and investment banking firm.

We typically start our engagement with a strategy analysis and the objective to verify and advise on the opportunity of buying or selling a company. In addition, we support our customers in building new investment portfolios (private equity or venture capital), or to review an existing portfolio regarding its strategic or commercial fit.

We are an owner driven company, leaving us free of conflict of interest to focus solely on achieving the best results for our clients.

ORCA Consulting Group is globally active. Our customers are medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), (single) family offices, private equity or venture capital funds. ORCA Consulting Group has established a network of formal and informal relationships with other advisory firms in Europe, North America, and Asia, enabling ORCA to access international opportunities and expertise on behalf of its clients.

What distinguishes ORCA Consulting Group is that you will have senior leaders advising you. We are entrepreneurs ourselves and honor values like, honesty, straightforward communication, reliability, and loyalty in providing our services to you.

Dr. Jörg Nowak, LL.M., MBA

Since 1994 Jörg has been successfully advising on the initiation and completion of strategic transactions and investments.

He studied law in Germany and the U.K., specializing on „international law“. After concluding his legal training and after being granted the title of Dr.iur (JD) he started in 1994 to work as an attorney-at-law for Hengeler Mueller Weitzel Wirtz in Frankfurt. His focus was on advising (cross-border) M&A transactions, sometimes with considerable transaction values. Thereafter, he worked for 5 years for MAN Technologie AG in Munich.

1998 he completed his business studies at Krannert Business School (Purdue – USA) and Ecole Supérieur de Commerce (Rouen – France) with an MBA degree.

He left MAN to become partner of a listed „venture capital“ company where he managed investments of more than 20 Mio. € in the IT, telecommunication and logistics industry. After that he was the managing director of an international M&A consulting firm and managed as investment manager a private equity fund of Bank Sarasin in the field of renewable energy.

2004 Jörg founded ORCA Consulting Group. Since then his clients include medium-sized companies (SMEs), family offices, private equity or venture capital funds who appreciate his views on the formation and execution of their growth strategies. Due to his international contacts, he can advise also on cross-border transactions.

Since 2007 he has built an investment portfolio for a family office in the water/ waste water sector. His activities for this client comprise of the design of the right investment strategy, the search for target companies with the best fit, structuring and closing the transactions, and managing the investment portfolio of a couple of hundred million.

Driven by his passion for strategy Jörg has been teaching several years strategy and entrepreneurship at a private University for MBA students. Based on the latest strategy tools and ideas he invented the “ORCA Strategy” that he now disseminates in C-level seminars and workshops.

Dr. Nowak speaks German, English and French.

Our Mission

“We care about your future – worldwide!“

ORCA Consulting Group’s guiding philosophy is to be the driver and caretaker (the odd German word would be “Kümmerer”) of and behind a transaction or a strategy. Depending on the situation you may need a reliable and honest partner, a troubleshooter, a coach, a leader, a smart counsel, or just somebody to blame (be it the “good” or the “bad” guy”). We are happy with any role we can fill to make a deal work – or to tell you straightforward to better stop a specific transaction (often because there is no fit of the „human factor“).

Our work ethos is best characterized by the principle of entrepreneurship („we feel and act as entrepreneurs“). It lies at the heart of our business.

ORCA Consulting Group strives to give the highest standards of personal attention and professionalism to all its clients through a commitment to integrity and quality in our professional advice.

ORCA Consulting Group’s success relies on the fact that we take responsibility for all aspects of a client relationship, from initial contact to transaction management and continuing day-to-day service. Above all else, ORCA Consulting Group’s aim is to offer pragmatic, constructive, result-oriented, innovative advice.

ORCA Consulting Group’s ambition is to be recognized as the source of best advice for growing midcap companies, family offices, and investment funds with international business interests.

Industry Expertise

To be a good partner we need to understand your industry segment. Industry expertise means not only to be profoundly familiar with the products and services in your industry, but to understand current industry trends as well as the respective regional sales and distribution channels.

Over time we have built such expertise in sectors like machinery and plant construction, automotive, cleantech, water and waste water treatment, sensors, med-tech, logistics, textile, industrial services, automation and IT.

Often, we know the decision makers in these industry segments and through our network we can quickly establish the direct contacts, in our domestic market as well as abroad.

How we work

ORCA Consulting Group will guide you with our independent advice to the right decisions going beyond mere transaction processing. ORCA Consulting Group is committed to achieving positive results. Therefore, we partner with our clients. ORCA Consulting Group closely co-operates with its clients and the objectives as well as the appropriate fee structure are determined at the start of a project. Our project reporting will always keep you informed on the achievement of the objectives.

ORCA Consulting Group has a reputation for our extensive business network and our professional and entrepreneurial work approach. We try to understand the broader perspective first before we recommend business decisions. ORCA Consulting Group bases its recommendations on deep industry expertise which helps to define, deliver, and implement growth and differentiation strategies. We believe that it is always a good timing to target business opportunities, yet sometimes a deal that is not done is also a good deal. You can also count on our open advice not to close a transaction.

Typical Engagement Structure

Typically, our engagement is divided into (mostly four) project phases (example of a sell-side advisory mandate):

Phase 1: Preparatory Work
Objective: Ideal Preparation of the Sale of the Company
Single steps:

Gathering of information about the company and drafting of an executive summary and information memorandum for interested parties (including description of the scope of activities and of the business model, technical capabilities, summary of key financials like revenues, profit, margin, investments made, salary of key employees).
Structuring of the sale process.

Phase 2: Approaching of interested parties and summary of first reactions
Objective: Identification of interested parties; start of negotiations
Single steps:

Identification („long list“) and approaching of interested parties, agreement on „short-list“ and forwarding of executive summary and information memorandum
Receipt of `indication of interest`
First meetings and organization of an on-site-visit and a company presentation
Preparation of additional information
Receipt of bids
Evaluation of bids received
Support in the preparation of a „letter of intent“

Phase 3: Negotiation
Objective: Receipt of several bids and negotiation of best offers
Single steps:

Structuring of the negotiation process
Preparation and conduct of „due diligence reviews“ (preparation of relevant information; supervision of „data room“; management Interviews; coordination of the interested parties)
Support with the contract preparation
Agreement on „term sheet“
Evaluation of „binding offer“.

Phase 4: Closing
Objective: Execution of a binding contract
Single steps:

Finalizing the negotiations on the definitive contract and transaction structure
Clarification of any remaining legal and tax issues
Closing
Post-merger communication
Coordination of post-closing-activities.

Fee structure

We are always interested in having a thorough discussion with you about your individual situation and objectives. It is equally important for us to understand your expectations and the possibility of successfully executing a project for you. Our approach is based on a realistic estimate of your plans and we will be delighted to devote time at no cost for you to make sure that we have fully understood your situation.

ORCA Consulting Group is normally retained on a remuneration model that includes a fixed fee as well as a variable success based fee. Normally the fixed fee is linked to project phases 1 and 2 which normally last 4-8 months. In certain cases, we also suggest to do a quick analysis first before we will take on an extended assignment. In such case ORCA Consulting Group charges per day. Depending on the chances of success we will then suggest an appropriate way to proceed with a longer project. Any fixed fees have to be paid in advance upon the start of our work.

Should a project have been successful during phase 1 and 2 we normally decide together with our client to enter project phase 3 und 4. During this time our remuneration model is related to our success during phase 1 and 2 (e.g. the number of interested parties that we have been able to generate for a sell-side mandate). This takes, in our view, best into account the goals achieved until then and helps our clients in reducing the financial risk of a failure.

Why we have chosen the name „ORCA“ Consulting Group

The ORCA:

is characterized by its intelligence and flexibility: the name Orca is the synonym for one of the most impressive creatures on our planet. The Orca combines „the teeth of the sea“ and „the brain of the waves“. Orcas are social, adaptive, co-operative and intelligent.
loves the global challenge: the Orca has one of the most expansive empires of all species: he lives in all seven seas, from equator to the polar regions. Each habitat has other challenges for the Orca. Sometimes he has to cope with the surf, sometimes with the prey he has to catch. Some Orcas are globetrotter, others stay their whole life where they were borne, other Orcas are commuters.
possess the ability to communicate and is multilingual: the Orca is capable of communicating in several languages. Orcas chat extensively with each other. Within their group, they recognize themselves due to their cries. In contrast to us human beings, Orcas do not live in a visual but rather in an acoustic world. When they are hunting, they use a sonar system. Each Orca Pod (= family) has its own dialect, but Orcas can also learn the dialects of other pods.
masters to take strategic actions: Orcas hunt with a sophisticated technique. Not only that they plan the attack months in advance but also the success of the chase.
Orcas might act as knight in shining armour: in 1970 Paul Spong, a marine biologist, got caught in dense fog with his kajak in the Johnstone Strait. Suddenly, he was encircled by blowing Orcas. The marine biologist replied by playing the flute he had carried with him. The Orcas escorted him for more than ten hours until they had guided him to an island where he could be rescued. (Source: GEO, Book 03/ 2002)
The ORCA, our eponym, is worth that we take actions to engage ourselves for his protection.