Rainer-Marc Frey

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Rainer-Marc Frey (born January 10, 1963 in Liestal , Baselland ) is a Swiss entrepreneur and private investor. He has had a major impact on the Swiss financial industry and the international hedge fund industry.

Life

Rainer-Marc Frey was born on January 10, 1963 in the canton of Basel-Landschaft and grew up there as the son of a cantonal bank director. After graduating from high school in Liestal, he studied economics at the renowned University of St. Gallen and obtained his licentiate degree (lic. Oec. HSG) in 1986 with summa cum laude.

He gained his first professional experience at the US investment banks Merrill Lynch and Salomon Brothers and quickly made a career. At Salomon Brothers he initiated the creation of trading departments in Zurich and Frankfurt . In 1991 he left Salomon Brothers despite favorable career prospects and in 1992 founded his own hedge fund with two partners in Zug - the RMF Investment Group.

RMF Investment Group

The hedge fund investment philosophy, i. H. Achieving above-average returns in comparison to a reference market and reducing the risk through hedging strategies was largely unknown in Switzerland at the time and was met with great skepticism among investors. RMF achieved something groundbreaking here. At the beginning, neither insurance companies nor banks recognized the potential of this type of fund in Switzerland, which want to earn money even when the stock market is falling or trending sideways. RMF was initially involved in the Japanese warrants and convertible bonds business and was one of the first active hedge fund groups in Europe. The RMF investment philosophy prevailed - despite difficult times such as the Asian crisis in the mid-1990s. After a dry spell, institutional investors also accepted these concepts.

In 1996, a successful collaboration began with LGT and Swiss Life (then the Swiss Life Insurance and Pension Fund) with the launch of the hedge fund investment company Castle Alternative Invest. Swiss Life significantly expanded its alternative investments and acquired a 23.5% stake in RMF in 1998 and 2000 for a total of CHF 44 million. Cooperations with other insurers followed in the next few years. When the dot-com bubble burst in 2000 , market-neutral approaches by hedge funds were suddenly in demand. In 2001, Credit Suisse invested almost CHF 4 billion in hedge funds via RMF. In 2002 almost all of the major Swiss insurers were key customers of RMF.

From 1996 to 2002 the RMF Investment Group developed into one of the leading European providers of alternative investments . In 2002 RMF managed $ 8.5 billion in assets. In the same year, Man Group plc launched a takeover offer for RMF of around CHF 1.35 billion. The shareholders of RMF accepted this and merged with the Man Group. When the company was sold, RMF's twelve-person management committee was contractually committed to a three-year commitment to the merged company. This acquisition made the Man Group the world's largest hedge fund provider.

Horizon21

With the sale of his shares, Frey received proceeds of around CHF 500 million. But after the sale, Frey and his partners did not just concentrate on managing their assets. In 2004 they founded the next investment company, Horizon21 AG, ​​which specializes in alternative financial investments and is based in Pfäffikon SZ ( Schwyz ).

The Swiss Re was strategic in September 2005 Partner of Horizon21 and took a share of 20% of the business unit Horizon21 alternative investments. A year later, the two companies expanded their strategic partnership and pooled their strengths in the private equity fund of funds area. Horizon21 took over the private equity activities of Swiss Re and in return Swiss Re took over a 30% stake in Horizon21 Private Equity Holding.

Since the founding of Horizon21, the asset management of the founders and partners has been an important part of its activities. During a strategic realignment in 2010, Horizon21 repositioned itself as a private investment office and has since focused on the investment needs of founders and partners.

Holdings

Since the sale of RMF, Frey has made a name for himself as an industrial investor with company investments. As a private investor and major shareholder, he was able to bring his entrepreneurial experience directly to the companies in which he participated.

In October 2008 Frey was elected to the board of directors of the crisis-ridden Swiss bank UBS . With Frey, more financial know-how should be brought back to the board of directors. On the board of directors, Frey was seen as an independent spirit with a strong voice. He was a member of the Risk Committee and also on the Audit Committee and later on the Human Resources and Compensation Committee. In April 2014 he decided not to stand for re-election to the Board of Directors due to additional professional commitments.

Frey has been a member of the Board of Directors of DKSH Holding AG since 2008 and also a member of the Audit and Strategy Committee. DKSH, based in Zurich, is an internationally active, highly diversified Swiss service and retail group with strong roots in Asia. He holds 3.9% of the share capital of DKSH.

Frey has held an 8.67% stake in the Swiss pharmaceutical company Siegfried Holding AG , based in Zofingen , since 2010.

Since 2013, Frey has been the main shareholder and vice chairman of Lonrho Holdings Ltd , a diversified conglomerate operating in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2013, together with the Swiss entrepreneur Thomas Schmidheiny, as anchor shareholders, he made a takeover offer to the previous shareholders. On July 19, 2013, the takeover was completed for a total price of CHF 270 million and the company was privatized.

social commitment

Frey is Vice President of the Board of Trustees of the Frey Charitable Foundation (FCF), founded in 2004. The FCF operates under the entrepreneurial guiding principle that was decisive for the success of Rainer-Marc Frey. The FCF primarily supports the underprivileged in successfully assuming responsibility for their own lives. While FCF was active in various countries around the world in the first decade of its existence, it has since focused primarily on Africa and Switzerland. In Africa, FCF focuses on supporting outstanding social entrepreneurs in a variety of thematic areas.

Frey is a pilot in his spare time.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Press release ( Memento of the original from September 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Swiss Life, November 2, 2002. Accessed January 16, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.swisslife.com
  2. ↑ Rainer-Marc Frey, new UBS Board of Directors - A man with a golden hand. In: Berner Zeitung . October 2, 2008. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  3. ^ Factory of the multimillionaires. In: Balance. January 31, 2002. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  4. ↑ Man Group takes over RMF. In: FONDS professional. May 23, 2002. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  5. ↑ Press release in: Press portal, September 21, 2006. Accessed on January 16, 2017.
  6. ↑ Homepage Horizon21 AG Accessed on January 16, 2017.
  7. ^ What Rainer-Marc Frey brought to UBS. In: Finews. April 1, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  8. ↑ Who is Who: Rainer-Marc Frey. In: Balance. May 30, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  9. ↑ Share information DKSH Holding AG. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  10. ↑ Siegfried Annual Report 2015 , December 31, 2015. Accessed January 16, 2017.
  11. ^ Stefan Barmettler: Dispute over the free port. In: Handelszeitung . October 2, 2014, p. 5.
  12. ^ Frey Charitable Foundation: A partner of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Frey, Rainer-Marc
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss entrepreneur and private investor
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Liestal , Baselland