Thiele family office invests €200M in emerging markets impact strategy

Stella Vermögensverwaltungs GmbH, the single-family office of the Heinz Hermann Thiele Family Foundation and Julia Thiele-Schürhoff, has awarded a €200 million ($239 million) mandate to responsAbility Investments, a Zurich-based emerging market impact asset manager owned by M&G Investments. The mandate will focus on long-term investments in growth-oriented companies across Africa, Asia, and Latin America that advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Capital will be deployed in regions where the opportunity to create impact is greatest and where private sector funding can help close critical gaps, through backing companies that support job creation, provide essential goods and basic services, and operate environmentally sustainable business models. “As an entrepreneurial family, we are committed to managing our wealth responsibly and with a long-term perspective,” said Julia Thiele-Schürhoff. “By focusing on emerging markets and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, this mandate allows us to deploy a meaningful share of our assets to where the need for impact investments is greatest.”

About Stella Vermögensverwaltungs: The Knorr-Bremse family office

Stella Vermögensverwaltungs GmbH is a Grünwald-based single-family office managing the wealth of the Thiele family, established to oversee the fortune built by the late industrialist Heinz Hermann Thiele. Thiele, who passed away in February 2021 at age 79, was the majority shareholder and longtime leader of Knorr-Bremse AG, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles with a market capitalization exceeding €30 billion. He was also known as a major shareholder in Deutsche Lufthansa AG. His daughter Julia Thiele-Schürhoff now oversees the family’s investment activities through the family office and foundation structure. Christoph Schlegel, who joined Stella Vermögensverwaltungs in 2020 as Chief Investment Officer after serving as head of pension investments at Linde, was appointed managing director in 2021. The family office dedicates a substantial portion of its private market allocation to growth equity impact investments, with the majority directed toward emerging markets where the family believes impact efficiency is higher than in developed economies.

Picture Source: Alex Shuper, Unsplash+ (02.02.2026)
Article Source: responsAbility (02.02.2026)