What Peter May Family Office Service Gmbh & Co . Kg does

Peter May Family Office Service GmbH & Co. KG is a German boutique advisory firm founded in 1980 by Prof. Dr. Peter May, specialized in serving owner-families of family businesses across the DACH region. The firm operates through three legal entities under the PETER MAY brand: a consulting practice (Beratung), a family office service company, and a family-business academy / board services entity, with offices in Bonn and Hamburg. Its client base comprises owner-families of German mid-market and enterprise family-owned companies spanning logistics, manufacturing, consumer goods, and industrial sectors.

The firm's core offering is organized into four service lines: Consulting (owner strategy, family constitutions, succession planning), Board Services (advisory board concept, placement, and training), Family Equity Service (share transfer advisory and valuations), and the Family Business Academy (seminars, workshops, and events including the proprietary SYMPOWNIUM gathering). All engagements are delivered through the proprietary MAY-METHODE / INTES-Prinzip framework, an integrated methodology linking company, personal, wealth, and family strategy dimensions into a unified governance and succession architecture. The framework was publicly launched in 2005 and institutionalized through a partnership with INTES (Institut für Unternehmungsführung).

The business model is project- and retainer-based advisory revenue, supplemented by training and event fees from the Academy. The firm has delivered over 1,000 cumulative projects since founding. Go-to-market relies on Prof. Dr. Peter May's personal brand, senior-partner referral networks, published thought leadership (INSIGHT newsletter, academic and trade publications), and proprietary event IP (SYMPOWNIUM). The senior team of approximately 14 named partners and experts is concentrated in family-governance and succession advisory, with several members holding academic affiliations, supporting the firm's positioning as a category-defining specialist in the DACH owner-family advisory niche.

Name

Peter May Family Office Service Gmbh & Co . Kg

Legal name

PETER MAY Family Business Consulting GmbH & Co. KG

Website

https://petermay-fbc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

German boutique advisory firm founded in 1980 by Prof. Dr. Peter May, serving owner-families of family businesses in the DACH region across consulting, board services, equity transfers, and the Family Business Academy, using the proprietary MAY-METHODE / INTES-Prinzip framework.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Family Business Consulting

NAICS

Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169), Other Individual and Family Services (62419)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Family Business & Succession Advisory (FSAAADAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Family Office Advisory (Single/Multi-Family) (FSAEAAAI)

Keywords

• Family business consulting
• Succession planning services
• Owner strategy advisory
• Advisory board services
• Family equity consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Hamburg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Family Business Consulting: Advisory and consulting engagements for family businesses and owner families covering succession, owner strategy, family constitutions, and governance. Fees are project-based or retainer arrangements, billed by engagement scope and team time.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

PETER MAY provides multi-disciplinary advisory services for family-owned businesses and their owner-families, anchored in its proprietary MAY-METHODE. Core service lines include consulting on owner strategy, family constitutions, and succession planning; holistic board services covering conception, establishment, member placement, and training of advisory boards; family equity advisory for business valuations and intra-family share transfers; and a family business academy offering seminars, publications, and the SYMPOWNIUM summit.

Product overview

Peter May Family Office Service Gmbh & Co . Kg operates as a consulting firm under the brand 'PETER MAY The Family Business People,' offering a comprehensive portfolio of advisory services for family businesses and owner families. The core offerings consist of four integrated service lines: (1) Beratung/Consulting for owner strategy, family constitutions, and succession planning; (2) Board Services for advisory board concept development, establishment, member placement, and training; (3) Family Equity Service for participation capital advisory and share transfers; and (4) Family Business Academy for seminars, workshops, publications, and the annual SYMPOWNIUM flagship event. All services are delivered using the proprietary Peter May-Methode (MAY-METHODE) developed by founder Prof. Dr. Peter May, providing methodological consistency across the advisory practice.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Beratung (Family Business Consulting) Advisory services based on the PETER MAY-Methode covering owner strategy, family constitution, and succession planning for family businesses and owner families in German-speaking countries.
• Board Services (Beiratsvermittlung) Holistic advisory board services including concept development, legal establishment, member placement, and training for advisory boards in family businesses.
• Family Equity Service Family equity consulting including provision of participation capital through family offices, foundations, and family-oriented investment holdings; company valuations; and share transfer advisory within and outside the shareholder circle.
• Family Business Academy (Weiterbildung) Educational services including seminars, workshops, publications, newsletters, and flagship events for shareholders, next-generation owners, and advisory board members; also offered as in-house programs for individual families.
• SYMPOWNIUM (The Family Business Summit) Flagship annual event for family business owners and entrepreneurs; next edition scheduled for June 17, 2027 in Hamburg.
• Die Peter May-Methode (The MAY-METHODE) Proprietary consulting methodology developed by Prof. Dr. Peter May, based on the INTES-principle with five pillars: corporate strategy, personal strategy, asset strategy, family strategy, and their integration into an Integrierte Eigner Strategie (Integrated Owner Strategy).

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1,000 consulting projects completed with and for family entrepreneurs over decades.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers18 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• INTES (Institut für Unternehmungsführung)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProf. Dr. Peter May developed the INTES-Prinzip (INTES Principle) based on the INTES framework. INTES (Institut für Unternehmungsführung) is referenced as the foundational consulting principle underpinning Peter May's succession strategy methodology. The INTES-Prinzip integrates company, personal, wealth, and family strategies.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• KPMG Family Business: Big Four advisory practice dedicated to family businesses in Germany, offering consulting, tax and audit services to owner-families. Comparable target audience but much broader portfolio and global footprint than PETER MAY.
• Deloitte Private: Deloitte's global practice serving private and family-owned companies, including succession planning, governance and family-office advisory. Overlaps with PETER MAY on target market while offering the full Big Four delivery stack.
• EY-Parthenon Family Business & Private Capital: EY's dedicated practice serving family enterprises and private capital across succession, governance and transaction advisory. Directly comparable buyer persona with significantly larger scale and integrated service lines.
• PwC Private Business / Family Business: PwC's German practice for owner-led and family businesses covering strategy, succession, tax and transactions. Targets the same Mittelstand owner-family segment with a broader advisory suite.

Direct peers

• INTES (Institut für Unternehmungsführung): German consulting and research institute that originated the INTES framework underpinning Peter May's methodology. Directly comparable as a family-business and owner-strategy advisory operating in DACH with a comparable integrated strategy/structure approach.
• Heidelberger Institut für Familienunternehmen (HIF): University-affiliated institute dedicated to family-business research and advising in DACH. Comparable as a thought-leadership-driven, owner-family-focused advisory with publications, events and consulting engagements.
• WIFU (Wittener Institut für Familienunternehmen): Leading German academic-practitioner institute at Witten/Herdecke University focused on family business research, teaching and consulting. Closely comparable niche, target audience (DACH owner-families) and service portfolio (succession, governance, family constitution).

Emerging players

• BDO Family Business Services: Mid-tier advisory practice within BDO Germany focused on family businesses, providing succession, valuation and governance services. Comparable target market with smaller scale than the Big Four and similar niche specialism to PETER MAY.
• zeb (zeb.rolfes.schierenbeck.associates): European strategy and management consulting firm with a dedicated family-business practice advising owner-families on strategy, governance and succession. Comparable advisory scope with broader financial-services specialism.
• Wendelstein Beratung: Independent German advisory focused on family-business succession, governance and shareholder structures. Comparable specialist positioning and DACH target market, though smaller and less brand-anchored than PETER MAY.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCRtAizLvVnFe5vrkcCLRTaA
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/peter-may-family-business-consulting-gmbh-co-kg
• Instagraminstagram.com/petermaygruppe

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Peter May Family Office Service Gmbh & Co . Kg