Bio

Thomas Cobet is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal Private Equity Performance Improvement in Hamburg. He brings over 20 years of professional experience in industrial leadership positions and consulting. Dr. Cobet has worked as a Chief Financial Officer for international companies permanently and on an interim basis, spanning circumstances from severe turnaround situations to performance improvement settings. He has also led various complex global transformation projects across companies of different sizes and ownership structures. Dr. Cobet has a strong background in the energy sector, with a focus on renewables, but also brings experience in chemicals, payment services, telecommunications and engineered goods. Dr. Cobet’s notable consulting assignments include leading the project management office and finance workstream in a €25 billion German DAX company, which faced a severe crisis in one of its business lines due to quality issues. He created structure and transparency on the complex financial impacts of these quality issues, which allowed the setting of priorities and development of measures for the optimization of the costs and related cash-out patterns. Dr. Cobet also served as interim CFO for a PE-owned €1 billion spin-off of a Japanese industrial equipment manufacturer, where he enhanced the finance function to cope with the requirements of the new operating model, as well as ensured the derivation of a solid annual budget incorporating various optimization measures. Additionally, Dr. Cobet’s experience with industrial companies includes serving as CFO of a family-owned wind turbine manufacturer with annual revenues of €3.5 billion and a pre-tax loss of close to €1 billion the year he joined. He negotiated a refinancing package in of €1+ billion, while also ensuring financial transparency on the turnaround program of the company. He also worked as operational CFO for a €1.5 billion division of a Spanish IBEX 35 company, managing a distressed project portfolio and ensuring the implementation of various turnaround measures. Earlier, he led the commercial due diligence and carve-out of a €6 billion business division of a large industrial conglomerate and the financial integration of the carved-out business with a €4 billion Spanish company. Dr. Cobet earned an MBA, a master’s degree in philosophy and a PhD in philosophy from the University of Würzburg. A German national, he is fluent in German, English, Spanish and French.