Boehringer – von Baumbach Family – Is there a single family office?

How did the Boehringer / von Baumbach family earn their fortune?

Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. The company is one of the leaders in animal health, offering a range of medicines, particularly for respiratory diseases. The company is still private and not listed on the stock exchange. In 2023, it made an operating income of 4.8 billion euros and reported sales of almost 25.6 billion euros. The company employs more than 53,000 people worldwide. The majority of its revenue comes from human medicine and almost a quarter from animal medicine. It was discovered by Albert Boehringer in Ingelheim in 1885, hence the name Boehringer Ingelheim. His father founded the Boehringer drugstore in Stuttgart in 1817, which later became the different chemical company Boehringer Mannheim, which was run by his brother but sold to the Engelhorn family. Boehringer Ingelheim started out as a company of just over 20 people selling tartar and its derivatives.

Today, the fortune of the Boehringer von Baumbach family clan is estimated between 47 and 52 billion euros and is partly invested in the Boehringer family office.

How did  Boehringer Ingelheim develop?

One of their first commercially very successful inventions was to produce lactic acid in large quantities using a special type of bacteria. This was initially sold as baking powder. Another successful pre-war product was a lemonade called Chabeso, based on lactic acid, which was produced internationally but did not survive the fierce competition after the Second World War and was discontinued in the 1960s. The first real pharmaceutical, as we know it today, was called Laudanon, an opium-based painkiller in 1915. In the decades that followed, they produced caffeine, morphine and codeine as raw materials for pharmaceuticals, and expanded internationally by opening their first international office in Vienna, which is still responsible for all of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The next milestone, and still one of the company’s strongest segments, was research into medicines for respiratory diseases. This began in 1923 with the marketing of Lobelin, a drug to combat respiratory arrest. This was followed by a number of other drugs, mostly for cardiovascular diseases or the aforementioned respiratory disorders. Another famous drug was Buscopan, launched in 1950 to treat all types of stomach cramps. Today, the best-selling drugs are Pradaxa, which helps prevent blood clots, and Spiriva, which is used to treat respiratory diseases. The third and fourth best-selling drugs are both for diabetes, one of the most devastating diseases in the developed world in the 21st century. Their most recent bold management move was a swap with Sanofi in which Boehringer Ingelheim swapped its human over-the-counter division for Sanofi’s veterinary division, thereby strengthening its profile in the animal health market. They are among the companies with a very strong research profile. Their annual R&D budget is around three billion euros. In addition to animal health, Boehringer Ingelheim’s current focus is on the whole spectrum of biomedicine, as demonstrated by the acquisition of the Austrian biotech company ViraTherapeutics for 210 million euros. Another investment in Austria in the same area is the 700 million euro cell culture production facility in Vienna, the largest investment ever made by the company.

Does the Boehringer family have a Single Family Office?

Yes, they do. The Boehringer family office is called Profunda. They have managed to attract several high-profile asset managers, including tax managers. Unfortunately, very little is known about the focus and investment strategy of this prestigious, high-end single-family office. Another highly qualified member of their single family office, Sven Bäumle, went on to become a partner at KPMG, demonstrating the high level of commitment and quality with which they manage their assets. Nothing is publicly known about the asset management strategy of the specific acquisitions made by PROFUNDA for the Boehringer von Baumbach family, nor about the asset classes.

This article is part of our detailed report “The single family offices of Europe’s richest families“.

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