The share of the vaccine manufacturer Biontech rises and rises. It was particularly worthwhile for the two earliest investors: the twins Thomas and Andreas Strüngmann own almost half of the company.
It is a stock market price that most investors hardly dare to dream of: Since the end of March, the value of Biontech shares has more than quadrupled, rising from almost 80 to 388 euros per share today. The biggest beneficiaries of the boom are the two brothers Thomas and Andreas Strüngmann. You supported the company in founding it – and are now reaping the fruits of its success.
Because the vaccine against Covid-19, which was distributed together with the US company Pfizer, has driven the fortunes of the two to unimagined heights. Your company shares, which, according to the investor report, make up 47 percent of Biontech shares, are worth 42.3 billion euros based on the current market price. That would make the two brothers together the richest Germans – even if you only look at their shares in Biontech and not the rest of the assets.
The magazine “Forbes” lists each of the two with an individual fortune of 31 billion dollars each, which corresponds to 26 billion euros. Individually, they share second place on the list of the richest Germans. If the price rises, they could soon crack the 33.3 billion dollar fortune of the first-placed Aldi heirs Beate Heister and Karl Albrecht Junior individually. If you add the pairs of brothers together, the Stügermanns are already richer than the Aldis: Theo Albrecht Junior can “only” contribute 17 billion dollars.
Bet with gigantic success
At the time of their investment, there was no way that Biontech would one day become one of the most important manufacturers of a new type of vaccine against a global pandemic. When the company founders Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin were looking for investors in 2007, they wanted to use mRNA technology for use in cancer drugs. In the two brothers, they found two investors who believed in the technology – and brought the right change with them.
The brothers had that from the sale of their previous company: In the 1980s they founded Hexal, one of the best-known German pharmaceutical companies. As early as 2005, it catapulted them into the list of German billionaires: They received seven billion dollars for the sale. But they didn’t want to retire. Instead, they invested the money in medical start-ups. In 2007 they joined the company Ganymed, which was also founded by Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin, and sold it again in 2016. When Biontech was founded in 2008, the brothers provided the start-up financing with 180 million euros.
The medical business runs in the family for the twins. Her father, Ernst Strüngmann, built up a pharmaceutical company in the 1950s, and their two sons took over management of the company before they founded Hexal. Both prepared carefully for their careers: Thomas is a graduate in business administration, Andreas is a medical doctor.
Swell: ,
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
