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€999,99 including VAT
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€249,99 including VAT
This article directly stems from the research process for our European single family office database. Our list of European single family offices includes the most important family investment vehicles that invest in various areas, such as financial markets, real estate, venture capital, private equity and renewables.
Where does the fortune of the Belgian Van Damme, De Spoelberch and De Mevius families come from?
In 1987, the Belgian families Van Damme, De Spoelberch and De Mevius decided to merge their family-owned breweries. The result was Interbrew, with strong brands such as Leffe and Stella Artois. Interbrew is the forerunner of today’s largest brewer, InBev.
In 2023, Anheuser-Busch InBev had a turnover of 59 billion dollars. The descendants of the founding families still hold large stakes in the listed company. Their net worth is estimated at between 40 and 50 billion euros. This makes them the richest family in Belgium and one of the richest in the world.
Development of the family company Anheuser-Busch InBev
After the brewery merger in 1987, Interbrew bought many different national and regional breweries to strengthen its brand portfolio and increase sales. Acquisitions include Diebels, Beck’s, the German Gilde group, the Serbian Apatinska pivara or the German Spaten-Löwenbräu group (e.g. Franziskaner beer). The company went public in 2000. In 2004, the brewery group merged with the Brazilian company Ambev. In 2008, Inbev took over Anheuser-Busch, resulting in the current name Anheuser-Busch-Inbev. Last year its turnover rose to $59 billion. This makes it the world’s largest beer producer. The brand portfolio includes globally recognised and strong brands such as Corona, Leffe, Stella Artois, Becks and Franziskaner.
Is there a single family office of the Van Damme, De Spoelberch and De Mevius families?
There is no single family office for all three brewing families. Although the families are reducing their stake in Inbev, it remains the largest component of their wealth. The Spoelberch family also invests with other HNWI families through the investment company Cogepa. Like a typical private equity investor, Cogepa invests in growth capital and buyout transactions. Portfolio companies include Scalian, BioAgilytix and Staci. Three members of the de Spoelberch family sit on the board of directors of Cogepa: Grégoire de Spoelberch, Olivier de Spoelberch and Philippe de Spoelberch. The de Spoelberch and De Mevius families also jointly run the Belgian investment company Verlinvest.
How do the family members of the Belgian brewery family invest?
As mentioned above, there are two mainly family-owned investment companies: Cogepa and Verlinvest. Cogepa is a multi-billion private equity investor. Its portfolio companies are active in various industries. BioAgilytix is a bioanalytical testing company. Scialian is an engineering consultancy. Staci is a logistics company. Verlinvest is also a private equity investor that invests in private and public companies with ticket sizes ranging from €30 million to €150 million. Verlinvest’s portfolio companies include US pet products retailer chewy.com and water brand Glaceau Vitamin Water. Verlinvest also previously owned G-Star Raw. Alexandre Van Damme, a member of the billionaire Van Damme family, holds shares in Brands International (Burger King), Kraft Heinz and Jacobs Douwe Egberts (owned by the Reimann family’s JAB Holding).
This article is part of our detailed report “The single family offices of Europe’s richest families“.
Picture source: Martin Martz via Unsplash
