Nobutada Saji: Is there a family office?

The Japanese businessman and CEO of the brewing company Suntory

Nobutada Saji is best known in Japan for his role as CEO of Suntory Holdings Limited, the country’s third-largest brewing and distilling company. The company was founded in 1899 by Shinjirō Torii. In 1923, Torii built Japan’s first whisky distillery, the Yamazaki Distillery. Since then, the company has expanded globally and into various sectors of the food and beverage industry. Suntory’s history is characterized by acquisitions of competing companies. In 2009, Suntory acquired Orangina-Schweppes and, four years later, the beverage division of GlaxoSmithKline. However, Suntory’s biggest acquisition came in 2014, when it bought American bourbon producer Jim Beam for $16 billion. By now the Suntory owns 270 group companies and employs more than 41.000 people all over the world. Thanks to the market position it gained, the company generated revenues of $20.9 billion.

The brewing and distilling dynasty

Nobutada Saji has served as Representative Director, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Suntory since 2001. He is the grandson of Suntory founder Shinjirō Torii. Nobuhiro Torii, the great-grandson of Suntory’s founder, was also appointed to a central role in the company. In 2016 he became chief operating officer and executive vice president of Suntory Holdings. Thanks to the company’s success his family has amassed a fortune of $9.3 billion. The personal wealth of Nobutada Saji is estimated at around $1.2 billion. As far as we know, there is no Nobutada Saji family office to manage the billionaire’s wealth. Instead, the family’s wealth is mainly tied up in the family business.

Picture Source: Jason Hong via Unsplash