Paul's Story
Paul Oberschneider
Advisor, investor and international speaker. Thirty-five years building and selling property businesses across six countries.
Background
Paul Oberschneider has built and sold businesses across Central and Eastern Europe for thirty-five years, operating through multiple emerging markets and several capital cycles.
He founded Ober-Haus and built it into one of the largest fully integrated property development and investment companies in the region — 35 offices across six countries, some 650 people, and separate operating businesses in brokerage, development, mortgage lending and advisory.
The group developed and held shopping centres, residential schemes at scale, boutique hotels and commercial estates, and he raised capital for them from institutional investors, private equity and family offices.
The businesses were sold, in full, in early 2008 — ahead of the crash.
After 9/11, when his private equity partners panicked and instructed a wind-down, he bought them out instead with money he did not have. That decision is the reason there was anything to sell.
The Record · 1991 – 2008
Six countries. One exit.
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Russia. Sold in full in 2008, ahead of the global financial crisis.
10K+
Residential units funded and developed
4M
Sq ft commercial & hospitality
6
Markets, 35 offices, 350 brokers at peak
2008
Exited in full, before the crash
He got sober in September 1986. Every company he built came afterwards.
Today
Chairman, Hilltop Capital Partners
Today he is Chairman of Hilltop Capital Partners, a European real estate credit and equity platform, and works between London and Sotogrande. He takes board seats, advises founders and management teams, and invests selectively alongside operators he knows.
He shares his knowledge and experience at conferences and private events on building in markets with no rules, timing an exit and the reality of being a founder.
From the manuscript
“Jump into the cold water. Swim for the stick. Keep doing it regardless of the temperature.”
Paul Oberschneider
The memoir · Coming 2026
Coming Clean: Confessions of an Entrepreneur
A memoir for founders who built everything they wanted and found out it wasn’t enough — and what they did next. A podcast follows.
Stay in touch
Follow Paul
View From The Top: one letter every Wednesday, written by Paul, for founders, investors and operators building in European real estate.