Prof. Dr. Christoph Schalast

Personal Details

Professor Christoph Schalast has been a professor for Mergers & Acquisitions and European Integration at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management since September 2002.

Born in 1960, he studied law and political sciences in Giessen, Frankfurt Main and Lausanne in Switzerland. For his practical legal training, he worked for Rasor and Schiedermair (currently Linklaters LL.P.), the European Parliament as well as for the City of Frankfurt’s Property Office. Christoph Schalast attended the postgraduate study programmes of Comparative Law (Droit Compare) at the University of Strasbourg and that of European Integration at the European Institute of Saarbruecken.

After his admission to the Bar, he specialized in M&A at Albert Flad & Schlosshan (currently Mayer Brown LL.P.). In 1995, he established the law firm of Schalast & Partner focusing primarily on M&A/ Banking and Capital Market Law as well as Telecommunications Media / Technology.
Schalast LAW | TAX is one of the top 40 medium-sized law firms in Germany today, with offices in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin, Düsseldorf, and Stuttgart.

In 1997, Christoph Schalast was appointed Professor of Business Administration and European Law at the University of Wismar. 2002, he became a professor at Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. In 2005, he initiated the Master of Mergers & Acquisitions programme there, of which he is still the academic director today. Christoph Schalast is Chairman of the annual M&A/Private Equity Conference and the Frankfurt Institute for Private Equity and M&/A (FIPEMA) Co-Director. At Frankfurt School, he also established the research area of non-performing loans and has been responsible for the annual NPL Forum since 2006. In 2009 and 2010, he was elected Frankfurt School Professor of Excellence by the students. Theses supervised by him were honoured with the Leonardo M&A Award in 2008 and 2014, the M&A Science Award in 2010 and several times the DKS Award. He has lectured at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences (European Law) and the University of Hamburg (Telecommunications Law).

Christoph Schalast has advised numerous governments in Eastern and South Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region on reforming business law and implementing the rule of law. In this capacity, he has been a member of legislative commissions, particularly in South Eastern Europe. He also advises as an expert on German legislative projects, particularly in banking and capital markets law.

Christoph Schalast is a member of the Supervisory Board of Commerz Real Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bank für Vermögen AG and Schalast Auerbach Wirtschaftsprüfungs AG, Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Bundesvereinigung für Kreditankauf und Servicing and Chairman of Deutsche Kreditmarkt-Standards e.V. From 2000 to 2024, he was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of milch & zucker AG. He supported its integration into the Bertelsmann Group. He is also a long-standing jury member of the German Journalist Award and the Corporate Finance Awards of the Börsenzeitung. Since 2016, he has succeeded Prof Müller-Stewens (HSG) as editor of the leading German-language journal for M&A, the M&A Review.

As a lawyer and notary, he specialises in M&A, banking, and capital markets law and has been recommended by JUVE and Legal 500 for many years. WirtschaftsWoche ranks Christoph Schalast - most recently in 2024 - as one of Germany's top M&A and banking lawyers. The law firm he founded - Schalast LAW | TAX - won the JUVE Award as Law Firm of the Year for SMEs in 2007 and the European Award "Law Firm of the Year Germany" presented by the leading British industry magazine "The Lawyer" in 2018, the highest honours for medium-sized independent law firms in Germany and Europe.
Christoph Schalast is regularly quoted on business law topics by German and international business journals such as FAZ, Börsenzeitung, Handelsblatt, WirtschaftsWoche, Wallstreet Journal and New York Times. He also comments on current developments in commercial law on radio and television.

As an author and editor, he is responsible for numerous publications, including Grundlagen des M&A Geschäfts (3rd ed. in preparation, Springer) and Grundlagen des NPL-Geschäftes (4th ed. 2024, Frankfurt School-Verlag). In June 2024, the 3rd edition of Mergers & Acquisitions Handbuch für Strategie, Consulting und Rechtsberatung was published by Schäffer Poeschel, which he co-edited and co-authored with his colleagues Müller-Stewens and Binder (HSG) and Sven Kunisch (Aarhus University).