When executing advisory mandates, THOPAGO ADVISORY either works on its own or together with other financial advisory firms or with investment banks, depending on the nature and complexity of the assignment.
Guiding clients through complex transactions, ensuring strategic alignment, valuation accuracy, and seamless execution, including off-market transactions, maximizing the value of our clients' position.
Typical areas are: Sell-side advisory, buy-side advisory, cross-border transactions.
Navigating the intricate landscape of capital raisings from straight debt to equity financing requires a keen understanding of business dynamics and investor expectations. From traditional lending to tailored financial instruments (including mezzanine, convertible debt to equity financings), we assist clients in making informed decisions, managing risks, and capitalizing on opportunities in a highly competitive marketplace.
Typical areas are: Equity financing & debt financing, private equity & venture capital access, pre-IPO financings.
Supporting companies throughout the complex process of becoming publicly listed, with the goal to prepare the company both operationally and strategically, ensuring regulatory compliance, investor readiness, and optimal market positioning to maximize value at listing.
Typical areas are: Strategic readiness assessment, equity story & investor positioning, underwriter selection & advisor coordination.
Providing an objective, data-driven assessment of a company’s or asset’s worth. These valuations serve as the foundation for key strategic decisions such as mergers & acquisitions, fundraising, IPOs, restructuring, or regulatory compliance.
Typical areas are: M&A, IPO, succession planing, fundraising valuation, strategic planning portfolio valuation.
Helping companies to evaluate the financial and strategic viability of key initiatives — such as investments, expansions, new business models, or M&A — by combining rigorous financial analysis with strategic insight, with the goal to support informed decision-making, risk mitigation, and value creation.
Typical areas are: Financial feasibility, financial modelling, performance analysis.
Supporting companies in optimizing their capital structure, managing liquidity challenges, and navigating periods of financial stress or strategic transition, with the aim to ensure access to capital, reduce financing costs, and enhance long-term financial sustainability.
Typical areas are: Refinancing, liquidity management, capital structure optimization.
The name “THOPAGO” is based on the full name of the company’s founder and Chairman: Dr. Thomas Patrick Gottstein.
Thomas Gottstein brings over three decades of experience in the global financial industry, having held senior leadership roles across investment banking, private banking, and universal banking.
Over the course of his 33-year banking career, he spent 10 years with UBS and 23 years with Credit Suisse, of which 16 years in Switzerland and 17 years in the United Kingdom. He has a uniquely broad perspective, with professional experience spanning three years in Group Controlling & Accounting, 20 years in Investment Banking—including M&A and Equity Capital Markets—and a decade in Private and Universal Banking, including in senior management roles.
From 2015 to 2020, Thomas Gottstein served as CEO of the Swiss Universal Bank Division and Credit Suisse (Schweiz) AG. Under his leadership, the division achieved strong financial performance and was consistently recognized as the "Best Bank in Switzerland" by Euromoney (2018, 2019 and 2020). He was later appointed Group CEO of Credit Suisse in 2020, serving during an especially pivotal time for the bank and the industry.
Earlier in his career, Thomas Gottstein gained extensive deal-making experience across sectors including TMT (Telecoms, Media & Technology), Healthcare, Financial Services, Commodities, Industrials, and Consumer Goods. He has advised on over 25 IPOs globally (including during his time as Co-Head of ECM for the EMEA region at Credit Suisse) as well as on numerous privatisations and M&A situations. His deal experience included landmark transactions and strategic advisory mandates involving both large-cap corporations and SMEs—with a strong focus on Swiss clients.
Today, as Chairman and Managing Partner of THOPAGO ADVISORY, Thomas Gottstein applies this wealth of experience to support corporates, entrepreneurs, family offices and institutional investors through strategic advisory, drawing on his deep industry insight and global perspective.
In 1989, Thomas Gottstein graduated with a master degree in business administration from the University of Zurich and in 1995 with a doctoral degree in Finance & Accounting from the same institution.
Besides his strong interest for Finance and extensive professional career therein, Thomas Gottstein always had a passion for sports. In his youth, he played junior football for FC Zurich and then later played competitive golf. During his high school and university time, Thomas Gottstein became Swiss junior golf champion twice (1982 & 1984), Swiss amateur champion three times (1989, 1990 & 1992) and won the individual title at the European junior golf team championship (1984). Thomas Gottstein was a member of the Swiss national amateur team at five consecutive World Amateur Team Championships (Eisenhower Trophy) from 1984-1992 and was also a member of the continental European amateur team at the 1988 St Andrews Trophy in St Andrews, Scotland. In May 2025, after more than a two-decade break from competitive golf, he became the Swiss National Senior Amateur Champion (over 50).
We are very much looking forward to hearing from you with new project inquiries.
THOPAGO ADVISORY AG
Seefeldstrasse 281
CH-8008 Zurich
+41 43 222 6219
info@thopago-advisory.com