ACF Investment Bank’s Strategic Media M&A Expansion into Germany

ACF Investment Bank’s decision to expand into Germany via Munich and hire Bernd Wendeln is a strategic response to observable acceleration in European media M&A activity. Germany, as the EU’s largest media market with deep content producers, IP rights holders, platforms, and private equity interest, represents both a high-demand territory and a competitive proving ground. By bringing on an executive who has held senior roles at Verve Group, Tele München Group (now under Mediawan/Leonine), ProSiebenSat.1, and Your Family Entertainment, ACF gains immediate cultural, operational, and relational leverage nationwide.

This move complements existing expansion efforts: ACF’s launch of a New York office, its tracking record in advisory mandates (See-Saw / Mediawan and Done+Dusted / Endeavor), and the promotion of internal talent such as Milos Perovic to Director. Together with Forest Road’s backing, this suggests both a resource build-out and ambition to compete with larger cross-border boutique and full-service banks in media and entertainment.

Operationally, being in Germany allows ACF to offer faster execution, local market intelligence, and stronger sourcing of deal flow among German media owners, PE firms, family offices and broadcasters. Germany’s consolidation trend—demonstrated by entities like Mediawan/Leonine, AdAlliance, RTL/RTL+, etc.—implies increasing appetite for M&A and capital solutions. ACF’s local presence positions it to capture mandates both upstream (firm sales, divestitures) and downstream (fund raising, IP transactions, content licensing instruments, etc.).

However, there are several open questions and risks. First, how differentiated is ACF’s value proposition versus established local players like Dentsu’s agencies, Investment banks like Rothschild, or in-house corporate development teams in German broadcasters and studios? Second, regulatory complexities in media ownership, IP rights, antitrust and foreign investment in Germany may introduce friction. Third, sourcing sufficiently large, high-margin deals consistently in a still fragmented media landscape will require investment in reputation, deal pipelines and relationships—not simply leadership appointments. Finally, Germany’s market could suffer from overcapacity or valuation compression, particularly for non-premium content or niche formats, which could pressure deal terms.

Strategic implications: over the medium term, ACF could become a go-to cross-border advisor in DACH-Europe with strengths in transatlantic, IP-centric, live events and entertainment deals. If executed well, local presence plus global platform creates competitive advantage. Forest Road’s capital access may allow ACF to offer growth-equity, hybrid debt solutions, or even invest directly—shifting the bank’s role from pure advisor to occasional investor. It is also possible this expansion accelerates consolidation: ACF might acquire small German advisory boutiques or specialists to build scale faster.