JAB’s Becht retires; family office and coffee powerhouse adds 3 partners

  • Why this is important: A key executive at JAB, one of the most active family offices in direct investing, retires.

 

Lambertus Becht, partner and chairman at JAB Holding Co, which invests on behalf of Germany’s Reimann family, is retiring, a news release said.

Fabien Simon, Ricardo Rittes and Jacek Szarzynski will join the JAB partnership. JAB is also opening a new office in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

JAB invests the wealth of four members of the Reimann family — Wolfgang, Matthias, Renate and Stefan —and has offices in Washington, Luxembourg, Mannheim and London.

Becht joined the family office in 2012, after stepping down as chairman at Reckitt Benckiser Group. Alongside Peter Harf and Olivier Goudet, Becht led several high-profile acquisitions for JAB.

With its acquisition of Peet’s Coffee & Tea, StumptownMondelez’s coffee business, Caribou CoffeeEspresso House and Keurig Green Mountain, JAB became a big player in coffee.

It also acquired Pret A Manger, Panera Bread and Dr Pepper Snapple in the past few years. The holding company also owns Au Bon Pain and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

JAB owns an 8 percent stake in Reckitt Benckiser and 77.4 percent of Coty, which owns the Calvin Klein and David Beckham perfume brands. The holding company has a minority investment in Bally.

Simon will become partner and chief financial officer at JAB, and he will assume Becht’s board seat at Keurig Dr Pepper.

Before this, Simon led the integration of JAB’s coffee powerhouse Jacobs Douwe Egberts, created by merging Douwe Egberts and Mondelez’s coffee business.

Prior to that, Simon worked at Mars, owners of candy and gum brands M&M’s, Snickers, Twix, Skittles, and Orbit, pet brands like Pedigree and Royal Canin, food brands like Suzi Wan, Tasty Bite and Uncle Ben’s, and beverages like Dove Hot Chocolate, Bright Tea and Alterra Coffee Roasters.

Rittes will lead JAB’s expansion into emerging markets and open the Sao Paulo office. He most recently was global treasurer at Anheuser Busch Inbev.

Szarzynski will join JAB as lead operating partner for JAB’s newly created Pret Panera Holding Co. He previously worked at Mars.

Anna-Lena Kamenetzky will assume Becht’s board seat at Coty.

Action Item: Read more on JAB’s investments here https://bit.ly/2QOpTBq

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