Karl Albrecht Jr & Beate Heist: is there a family office?

This article directly stems from the research process for our European single family office database. Our list of venture capital focused single family offices includes the most important family investment vehicles that invest in promising startups, amongst others within the travel and hospitality sector.

You might also like the list of the 800 largest travel venture capital investors, curated by our partner portal ThousandInvestors.

Karl and Beate are both children of Karl Abrecht Sr, who inherited the grocery giant Aldi. Their father split the ownership with his brother, Theo Sr who inherited the stores in northern Germany and the rest of Europe (Aldi North) whereas Karl inherited the southern German, U.K., Australian and American stores (Aldi South). Due to a dispute, the brothers decided to work independently and the two chains work as separate entities.  In 2020, the duo had an estimated net worth of $41.3bn. In this article, we will investigate how the pair manage their wealth through the family trust and grocery giant.

Karl and Beate control the Albrecht family trust Siepmann Stiftung

The duo’s wealth is attributed to their stake in Aldi South, which is controlled by the family trust Siepmann Stiftung. Aldi Sued operates over 8,000 stores in over 13 countries and revolutionized the grocery market thanks to their no-frills and low-cost approach. In 2021, it was estimated the company generated $95bn in net sales worldwide. Beate is married to Peter Heister, who also serves on Aldi’s advisory board alongside their son Peter. Karl Jr also sat on the advisory board up until a cancer diagnosis which led to him resigning from his role.

Picture source: Marques Thomas

Share this post

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

familyofficehub.io