Ludwig Diaz
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
New York, NY, United States
Toptal member since January 9, 2018
Ludwig has closed over $30 billion of transactions in the US and Europe at Deutsche Bank's investment banking division. He has worked closely with investment professionals at top firms like Blackstone and Starwood Capital on deals ranging from asset and business disposals to multi-billion dollar acquisitions. He joined Toptal to connect with other entrepreneurs and go-getters and share his knowledge around investing, financing, strategy, and M&A.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Certification Highlights
Case Studies
Comprehensive Corporate Valuation
Benchmarking Analysis
Equity Structuring
Industry Expertise
- Advertising & Marketing
- Investment Banking
- Hospitality
- Gambling & Gaming
- Travel Agencies & Services
- Real Estate
- Retail
- Financial Modeling
Other Expertise
- Capital Raising
- Corporate Finance
- Equity Research
- Investment Analysis
- Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
- Valuation
Work Experience
Managing Principal
Starlifter Capital, LLC
- Formed a company to sponsor opportunistic and value-add direct real estate investments in select US markets.
- Carried out strategy formulations, underwriting, negotiations, capital raising, and deal executions.
- Served as general partner on $70 million of assets, including multifamily, industrial, office, and retail.
- Conducted a comprehensive investment analysis and underwriting for a mixed-use redevelopment of a 1.2 million square feet (SF) distressed super-regional mall with fractured ownership.
- Advised on two large, mixed-use development projects consisting of luxury hotel and branded residential properties totaling over $800 million of capitalization, with an option to participate as a general partner on one of the projects.
Executive Vice President
JLL
- Provided corporate finance and M&A expertise to support new business development on a pan-European basis.
- Sourced a £2+ billion acquisition mandate and a strategic acquisition advisory role with separate, key clients.
- Served on the Management Committee for the JLL European hotel team, a 100+ person business.
Vice President
Deutsche Bank
- Spearheaded over 60 financial analysis and valuation exercises in support of corporate transactions and presented conclusions of analyses to senior executives, board members, and senior investment professionals.
- Involved in over 25 M&A mandates ranging from the evaluation of strategic alternatives to formal acquisition or disposal efforts at the asset, portfolio, and corporate levels. Examples include Blackstone's $500 million investment into GGP and Starwood Capital's EUR 1.3 billion sale of Louvre Hotels.
- Led the credit analysis work, including a cash flow and covenant analyses, on 32 financing opportunities—resulting in $9.2 billion of loans and $4.7 billion of bonds. Examples include $3.5 billion financing for TPG and Silverlake's take-private of Sabre Holdings and $450 million in credit facilities for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
- Actively involved in 24 equity market initiatives (including IPOs and private placements), resulting in 9 closed deals that raised $3.5 billion. Examples include $800 million and $400 million in multiple equity raises for Kimco Realty and Orient-Express Hotels (now Belmond), respectively.
- Led the design, crafting, and messaging of numerous investment presentations to debt and equity investors, research analysts, lenders and rating agencies on behalf of 20 discrete clients.
Captain
US Army
- Rated as the most technically oriented and competent officer out of 115 other officers in the USCENTCOM Joint Operations Center during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
- Implemented a system for the real-time exchange of information that led to a 50% improvement in communications effectiveness between two major operations centers in the US and Qatar.
- Served as the community, government relations, and marketing project officer in Fort Bragg’s largest-ever privatization effort ($5.5 billion in scope).
- Planned, organized, and executed six team and platoon deployments in support of operations throughout the US and the UK that exceeded operational objectives and came in below cost and time estimates.
- Assisted in managing personnel strengths, accountability, readiness, awards, protocol, and public affairs for a brigade of over 1,500 soldiers.
Education
Master's Degree in Finance
Georgetown University - Washington, DC, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Systems Engineering
United States Military Academy - West Point, NY, USA
Certifications
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
CFA Institute
Skills
Finance
Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Credit Analysis, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Corporate Finance, Equity Research, Due Diligence, Financial Model Auditing, Valuation, Financial Modeling, Capital Raising, Capital Budgeting, Private Equity, Cross-border M&A, Market Research, Market Opportunity Analysis, Investment Return Scenario Analysis, Investment Decision-making, Capital Structuring, M&A (Sell-side), Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Valuation Multiples, Capital Structure Analysis, Debt Structuring, Return Analysis
Output Software
Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint
Industry Expertise
Hospitality, Real Estate, Travel & Leisure, Casinos & Gaming, Capital Markets, Technology, Retail & Wholesale
Geographic Expertise
United States, EMEA
Other
Acquisitions, Disposal, Investment Research, Deal Structuring, Investment Analysis, Initial Public Offerings, Project Management, Strategic Planning & Execution, Joint Venture Development, Leveraged Finance, Marketing, Operational Excellence, Coaching, Training, Leadership Development, Investments, IRR, Scenario Analysis, Commercial Lending, Development, Training & Training Content Development
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
Share your needs
Choose your talent
Start your risk-free talent trial
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring