Stefan Quandt (born 9 May 1966) is a German billionaire heir, engineer and industrialist. As of October 2021, his net worth is estimated at US$23.2 billion and ranked at number 89 on Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Quandt owns about one-quarter of Bayerische Motoren Werke, the German manufacturer of luxury vehicles. The Munich-based company’s brands include BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce. He also has stakes in homeopathic medicine company Biologische Heilmittel Heel, credit card maker Entrust Datacard and logistics company Logwin.
The majority of Stefan Quandt’s wealth derives from a 25.8% stake in the common shares of Bayerische Motoren Werke, the Munich-based automaker. He owns a 0.2% stake directly and the rest through AQTON holding companies, according to BMW’s 2022 annual report.
He owns about 87% of publicly traded logistics provider Logwin through closely held investment company, Delton.
The billionaire controls Biologische Heilmittel Heel, a closely held homeopathic medicine company, which had more than 200 million euros in revenue in 2020, according to its website. It’s valued using the average enterprise value-to-sales, enterprise value-to-Ebitda and price-to-earnings multiples of two publicly traded peers: Boiron and Nature’s Sunshine Products.
He also owns 60% of closely held credit card and passport manufacturer Entrust Datacard. The company has annual revenue of more than $800 million, according to its website, and is valued using the enterprise value-to-Ebitda multiple of one publicly traded peer, Cimpress.
The value of his cash investments is based on an analysis of dividends, insider transactions, taxes and market performance.
Career
From 1993–1994, Quandt worked for the Boston Consulting Group in Munich. From 1994 to 1996 he worked for Datacard Group of Minneapolis as a marketing manager in Hong Kong.
BMW
On his father’s death in 1982 Quandt inherited 17.4% of BMW, the company his father had saved from bankruptcy in 1959. From further purchases he later owned 23.7% of the company. Following his mother’s death in 2015, Quandt’s voting stake in BMW temporarily increased to 34.19 percent, above a 30 percent threshold which triggered a compulsory takeover offer under German rules He subsequently asked the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) to be excused from these rules.
In 2018, Quandt became BMW’s largest single shareholder when his direct ownership increased with shares inherited from his mother, giving him a so-called “blocking stake” of 25.83 percent, worth 13.4 billion euros ($16.6 billion) He currently serves BMW as a deputy chairman of the supervisory board.
Delton
Quandt also inherited from his father substantial holdings in other companies, many of which he has been running through his holding company, Delton AG, since 1989. These include:
- 76.8% of CEAG, (small power supplies and recharging devices for mobile phones)
- 87.6% of Logwin AG (formerly Thiel Logistik, a logistics and freight forwarding company)
- 100% of Biologische Heilmittel Heel GmbH, which makes homeopathic preparation
- 100% of CeDo Household Products, which makes freezer bags, plastic and aluminium wraps and foils, bin liners, and coffee filters
With his mother, Quandt owned 18.3% of Gemplus International, a large digital security company, before its merger to form Gemalto in 2006.
Aqton
With a second holding company, Aqton SE, Quandt manages other investments, including in renewable energies:[10]
- Heliatek, organic solar panels
- Solarwatt, manufacturer of PV panels, solar batteries and energy management solutions
- Kiwigrid, grid based renewable energy solution for utilities
- BHF, financial service
Biography
Father Herbert Quandt saved BMW in Germany’s troubled postwar era and built the Bavarian car manufacturer into the world’s largest maker of luxury vehicles. Stefan Quandt was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1966, the youngest child of Herbert and his third wife, Johanna.
After his father died in 1982, Quandt inherited a stake in BMW, sole ownership of Heel, a homeopathic medicine firm, and interests in Logwin, a publicly traded logistics company, and in closely held credit card and passport manufacturer Datacard Group. He graduated from Karlsruhe University of Technology with a master’s degree in business engineering in 1993. After interning at the Boston Consulting Group, Quandt worked at Datacard in Minneapolis and in Hong Kong.
Quandt joined BMW’s supervisory board with his sister, Susanne Klatten, in 1996. He serves as a board member of Datacard, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and two foundations named after his parents. He lives in Frankfurt with his wife Katharina and their daughter.
Milestones
- 1966 Born in Bad Homburg, Germany, to Herbert and Johanna Quandt.
- 1970 BMW establishes the Herbert Quandt Foundation.
- 1982 Father Herbert Quandt dies; inherits stakes in BMW and Heel.
- 1993 Graduates from Technology University of Karlsruhe in engineering.
- 1995 Completes internship at Boston Consulting Group in Munich.
- 1997 Becomes a member of BMW’s supervisory board.
- 2010 Celebrates 50th anniversary of BMW under Quandt family rule.
- 2015 His mother, Johanna Quandt, dies aged 89.
