The billionaire Brenninkmeijer family’s holding company has named a sixth-generation member as its new chairman, accelerating the succession plans for one of Europe’s richest business dynasties.
Florian Brenninkmeyer, 40, is set to become chair of Cofra Holding AG’s board in April, stepping down from his current role as the Swiss firm’s chief financial officer, the company said in a statement. He’ll replace Martijn Brenninkmeijer, a 56-year-old Cofra veteran and fifth-generation member of the Dutch-German dynasty behind clothing giant C&A who has served as the holding company’s chair since 2018.
The appointment highlights how a new generation of leaders is increasingly taking over the Brenninkmeijer business empire as they push to break away from a long-held tradition of just managing family wealth. Grouped under Cofra, the family’s investment divisions include real estate, asset management and private equity, which have all opened to external capital in the past decade or so.
The Swiss company now oversees more than €40 billion ($45 billion) of total assets, adding billions within the last few years as it’s attracted larger sums of outside cash. Florian Brenninkmeyer, who uses a different spelling of his family name, will step down as Cofra’s CFO at year-end, according to the statement. His successor hasn’t been named.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing