Frenchman Gerard Wertheimer, co-owner of luxury house Chanel with his brother, has climbed to the top of Switzerland’s biggest fortunes ahead of the heirs of Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche, according to Bilan magazine rankings released Friday. . The magazine, which annually publishes a ranking of the top 300 fortunes in Switzerland, estimates Gerard Wertheimer’s net worth at 38-39 billion Swiss francs (equivalent to euros) amid a surge in sales in the luxury goods sector. last year.
In 2021, the haute couture house’s sales rose 27% from 2019, before the shock of the pandemic, to $15.6 billion, leading to a revaluation of the “house of Chanel,” explains the Swiss magazine.
The legacy of Gerard Wertheimer, based in the Canton of Geneva, and his brother Alain Wertheimer, based in the United States, includes other assets such as racehorses and prestigious wine castles.
He overthrows the German Klaus-Michael Kuehne from the throne and is ahead of Roche’s heirs.
Thanks to this revaluation, Gerard Wertheimer steals the top spot from the German Klaus-Michael Kuehne, heir to one of the founders of the transport and logistics group Kuehne + Nagel, whose wealth increased in the previous year. His fortune has been revised downward to around 23-24 billion francs from 29.5 billion in 2021, according to Bilan’s estimates, taking into account the decline in Kuehne + Nagel shares and the German shipowner Hapag-Lloyd, in which he also has a stake. In 2021, their prices have risen sharply due to freight tensions and supply chain disruptions.
With a net worth estimated at 30-31 billion francs by the magazine, the Hoffmann, Héry and Dushmale families, which include the heirs of the pharmaceutical giant Roche, are in second place.
The Italian Aponte family, head of the marine transport group Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), which took over logistics activities in Africa from the Bolloré group in March, posted the strongest growth in the rankings. She climbed to fifth place with a fortune estimated by the magazine at around 19–20 billion francs.
Armenian-Russian-Finnish billionaire Gennady Timchenko, who is considered close to Vladimir Putin, has dropped four spots to ninth as some of his assets were frozen following sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine. The magazine estimates his fortune at 14 to 15 billion francs.
Source: Le Parisien
