Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Swiss billionaire Martin Haefner creates foundation

Amag owner Haefner contributes assets to foundation after death
Martin Haefner is the owner of Switzerland's largest car importer Amag and an investor. Keystone-SDA

Martin Haefner, owner of the car importer Amag and one of Switzerland's richest citizens, has set up a foundation with his wife Marianne.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

The non-profit Martin+Marianne Haefner Foundation based in Zurich is part of their succession planning, Haefner spokesperson Aloys Hirzel told the news agency AWP on Tuesday confirming an earlier article in the Luzerner Zeitung.

“The foundation will one day hold all company shares,” said Hirzel.

However, this will only be the case when neither of them is still alive, the newspaper said.

“The assets of the Haefner couple, including the company holdings, will only be held by the foundation after the death of the two founders,” Hirzel stressed.

More

Martin Haefner will be 70 years old in 2024. In addition to Amag, the former mathematics teacher owns shares in industrial companies such as Swiss Steel, Autoneum and Rieter.

For charitable purposes

According to the commercial register, the foundation was established in mid-December 2024. The chair of the board of trustees is the chair of the board of directors of Zurich Airport, Josef Felder, who has been on the board of directors of Amag for many years and is its vice chair.

More

The foundation’s assets are to be used for charitable purposes, primarily in Switzerland, in four areas of activity: science and technology, combatting absolute poverty, culture and biodiversity of flora and fauna.

According to the commercial register, the main focus of donations will be on science and technology as well as combatting poverty and promoting women.

Adapted from German by DeepL/sb

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Zurich geophysicists discover unusual zones in the Earth's mantle

More

Swiss scientists discover unusual zones in Earth’s mantle

This content was published on Using high-resolution models to study the Earth's mantle, scientists have identified zones of rocks in the lower mantle that are colder, or have a different composition, than surrounding rocks.

Read more: Swiss scientists discover unusual zones in Earth’s mantle
Demand in the Swiss office market continues to fall

More

More offices stand empty in Switzerland

This content was published on More and more offices are standing empty in Switzerland's major cities. Nevertheless, new office constructions are likely to increase in the future, a study shows.

Read more: More offices stand empty in Switzerland
Army no longer gives "Tenü A" to everyone and saves millions

More

Swiss army cuts uniform distribution to save millions

This content was published on Members of the Swiss Armed Forces will only receive a distinctive grey dress uniform, the famous "Tenü A", for representational purposes in the future as a cost-cutting measure to save CHF55 million.

Read more: Swiss army cuts uniform distribution to save millions
Swiss woman dies in seaplane crash in Australia

More

Swiss, Danish tourists among three dead in Australian plane crash

This content was published on A light aircraft crashed during take-off from a tourist island in Western Australia, killing three people including Swiss and Danish tourists and injuring three others, authorities said on Wednesday.

Read more: Swiss, Danish tourists among three dead in Australian plane crash

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR