Eric de Rothschild

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Eric de Rothschild in 2009

Baron Éric Alain Robert David de Rothschild (born October 3, 1940 in New York ) is a French banker and was the director of the Château Lafite-Rothschild winery . He is a member of the Rothschild banking family .

Life

Childhood, youth and first steps in a career

Baron Éric de Rothschild was born on October 3, 1940 in New York, where his mother, Mary Chauvin du Treuil (1916–2013), fled before World War II in Europe . His father, Alain de Rothschild (1910–1982), was taken prisoner of war shortly after the German attack on France began in May 1940, where he remained until the end of the war in 1945.

At the age of seven, Éric returned to France with his parents , but received an international upbringing. After pre-school in England , he attended the Janson de Sailly high school in Paris and then studied engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich in the 1960s . In addition, Éric de Rothschild initially had US citizenship , which he gave up in favor of French citizenship on his 18th birthday.

Eric gained his first professional experience in the family-owned shipping company Saga . Then in the 1970s he moved to the family-owned bank Banque Rothschild in Paris, where he dealt with corporate finance. He later returned to Saga to take over as chairman of the board. Eric successfully restructured the company in the following years.

Nationalization and a fresh start

In 1982, then French President François Mitterrand nationalized the Bank Banque Rothschild together with the industrial holdings belonging to the bank (including Francarep (35%), Imétal (20%), PLM (37%), Saga (63%)). This moved Eric and his cousin David René de Rothschild (* 1942) to found a new financial services company, PO Gestion . While Éric held a company share of just under 50%, the remaining shares were held by his cousins David de Rothschild and Edouard de Rothschild .

Initially, for political reasons, this new company was not granted banking approval, nor was it allowed to use the term Rothschild in its name. After lengthy negotiations with the then French Finance Minister Jacques Delors , the company was granted a banking license in 1984 . Since the establishment of a new bank required significant capital expenditures, Éric and David needed the help of Paris-Orléans SA. Although this was a stock corporation listed in Paris , it had remained under the control of the French Rothschilds. In addition, Éric had been the company's CEO since 1974 . Paris-Orléans received 21% of the new PO Banque in return for a capital contribution . Another 12.5% ​​went to NM Rothschild & Sons in London , 10% to Compagnie Financiére Edmond de Rothschild in Geneva and 7.5% to Bank Rothschild in Zurich . 44% stayed with the French Rothschilds.

Only when a new government under the Gaullist Prime Minister Jacques Chirac came to power in France was the young bank allowed to operate under the name Rothschild & Associés Banque (later changed to Rothschild & Cie Banque ) from October 1986 . It wasn't just the bull market of the eighties and nineties that allowed the young bank to flourish. Advising the new French government on the privatization of the companies nationalized by President François Mitterrand a few years earlier also turned out to be profitable business.

Paris-Orléans SA. - The United Rothschild Bank

Éric de Rothschild has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Paris-Orléans SA since 2004 . In this position, he and his cousin David played a leading role in merging the banking activities of the English and French branches of the Rothschild banking family . Upon completion of this merger in 2008, the financial holding will include Paris-Orléans SA. the three areas of investment and corporate banking , private banking and asset management . The company also operates on its own account in the private equity sector. Éric is particularly responsible for private banking .

Through the family holding Rothschild Concordia SAS , Éric de Rothschild, together with his cousin David de Rothschild and other members of the French branch of the Rothschild family, controls the majority of shares in Paris-Orléans SA. Since Éric de Rothschild is the largest shareholder in Rothschild Concordia SAS with 38.54% (as of March 2010), he is also indirectly the largest single shareholder of Paris-Orléans SA. Accordingly, he is also CEO of Rothschild Concordia SAS .

Viticulture and Charity

Château Lafite Rothschild in 2006

In addition to his work as a banker, Baron Éric de Rothschild took over from his uncle, Baron Élie Robert de Rothschild (1917–2007), the management of the family-owned Château Lafite-Rothschild winery in 1974 . Éric, who owns a sixth of the winery, increased investments and replaced the technical staff. Between 1985 and 1987 he had a round barrel cellar ( called Chai ) with 2,200 barriques built, the first in this form, which was designed by the Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill .

Through the domaines Barons de Rothschild (DBR), which belongs to Château Lafite-Rothschild and is based in Bordeaux , Baron Éric de Rothschild has over the years several wine-growing companies in France ( Château Rieussec (1984), Château Paradis Casseuil (1984), Château l ' Évangile (1990), Domaine d'Aussieres (1999)) and overseas ( Viña Los Vascos (1988), vineyards on the Penglai peninsula in Shandong province in China (2008)). In addition, DBR has owned Château Duhart-Milon since 1962 and has been selling the wines of the Château Peyre-Lebade winery, which belongs to Baron Benjamin de Rothschild , since 1993 . DBR is also responsible for the management of Château Lafite-Rothschild and for the marketing and distribution of its wine.

Éric de Rothschild is also involved in numerous Jewish and charitable organizations. Among other things, he is President of the Mémorial de la Shoah (French also Center de documentation juive contemporaine , (CDJC), German Shoah memorial ), the central memorial to the Holocaust in France .

family

Éric is a member of the Rothschild banking dynasty, which was founded by his Frankfurt great-great-grandfather Mayer Amschel Rothschild and whose sons opened banks in Frankfurt , London , Paris , Vienna and Naples during the Napoleonic wars . The family developed into the largest financier for the rulers in Europe. In 1822, the Rothschild family was awarded the title of nobility by the Austrian Emperor Franz I.

Baron Éric de Rothschild is the son of Alain de Rothschild (1910–1982) and Mary Chauvin du Treuil (* 1916). He has a sister, Béatrice (* 1939), and a brother, Robert (* 1947). Baron Éric de Rothschild has been married to Maria-Béatrice Caracciolo di Forino (* 1955) since 1983 and has three children: James (1985), Saskia (1987) and Pietro (1991).

literature

  • Niall Ferguson : The House of Rothschild - The World's Banker 1849-1999. Penguin Books, New York / London 2000, Volume 2, ISBN 0-14-028662-4 .
  • Joachim Kurz: The Rothschilds and Wine - A Success Story from Bordeaux , Ullstein Buchverlage, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-430-30005-3 .
  • Herbert Lottman: The Rothschilds in France - History of a Dynasty. European Publishing House, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-434-50434-6 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rothschild, Eric de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rothschild, Éric Alain Robert David de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French banker
DATE OF BIRTH October 3, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City