Prior to founding Nordwind Capital, Hans was co-founder and co-head of Carlyle Europe, the first non-American fund of The Carlyle Group. In this capacity, Hans has invested € 347 million in four transactions. Even after leaving Carlyle in 2002, Hans remained responsible in particular for the investments in Honsel and Messer Eutectic Castolin. In the meantime, all these investments have returned two times the original investment. Before co-founding Carlyle Europe Partners in 1997, Hans was managing partner of IMM Industrie Management München, one of the leading German private equity companies at that time, where he amongst others implemented a very successful buy & build strategy in the office systems distribution area.