Thomas Strüngmann (born 1950) founded generic drug maker Hexal AG ($1.6 billion sales during 2004) in 1986. In 2005, he and his brother Andreas sold Hexal for $6.7B. They earned $8B on their stake in BioNTech SE, the German company developing the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. They own approximately 50% of the company as well as significant ownership in 4SC and Immatics. He currently has the largest health-care earned fortune with his brother.
The brothers operate out of a family office, Athos Service.
Strungmann’s wealth derives from his half share of the proceeds from the sale of two pharmaceutical companies in 2005. Strungmann and his brother Andreas raised 5.7 billion euros ($7.5 billion) from the sale of generic drug maker Hexal and their 68% stake in Hexal’s affiliate EON Labs.
The brothers jointly own stakes in publicly traded biotech firms. The biggest is their stake in BionTech, a company involved in the production of a Covid-19 vaccine. They own about 43% of the company based on the stake disclosed in a February 2023 regulatory filing. They also hold about 70% of 4SC and 26% of Formycon.
The value of his cash investments has been adjusted based on an analysis of dividends, taxes and market performance, and includes his share of assets held in trust by Munich-based investment firm Athos.
Some of the proceeds from the sale were used to invest in startup companies through Santo Holding, which doesn’t disclose financials. The Zurich-based group is valued based on the equity value of its Holzkirchen, Germany-based major subsidiary Santo Holding (Deutschland), which is published annually on the German Federal Gazette.
Santo and Athos are owned by the brothers’ families, and their assets are attributed to Thomas and Andreas in this analysis to reflect their roles as heads of their family.
Hanspeter Burkhart, a spokesman for Santo Holding in Zurich, didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.
Biography
Education: Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich
Strungmann was born in early 1950 with his identical twin brother, Andreas. Both brothers obtained doctorates, Thomas in economics and Andreas in medicine.Thomas and Andreas joined the family business Durachemie in 1979, working with their father Ernst who started it 10 years earlier. After selling the company in 1986, the brothers started Hexal, which they built into one of the world’s biggest generic drug companies, according to the Ernst Strungmann Institute website.Hexal was sold in 2005 to publicly traded pharmaceutical company Novartis. The brothers also off loaded their two-thirds stake in US generic drug company Eon Labs. The sales generated 5.7 billion euros ($7.5 billion) in cash for the brothers.The brothers continued to work in partnership following the sales and invested more than 500 million euros in German biotechnology companies. Thomas told Germany’s Manager Magazin in 2008 that he and his brother were planning to create something similar to Hexal.In the same year, the brothers gave 200 million euros ($220 million) to establish neuroscience research group, the Ernst Strungmann Institute. It’s fully-funded by the pair and named after their father.Both brothers live near Munich.
Milestones
- 1950 Identical twins Andreas and Thomas Strungmann are born.
- 1969 Ernst Strungmann enters the generic drug business.
- 1979 Joins family business alongside father Ernst.
- 1986 Ernst sells his company to rival Cyanamid Lederle.
- 2005 Ernst Strungmann dies.
- 2005 Raises 5.7 billion euros from Hexal and Eon Labs sales.
- 2008 Thomas and Andreas establish Ernst Strungmann Institute.
- 2008 Plans to invest 500 million euros in German biotech companies.
