Frédéric Hottinger
Member of the Supervisory Board of the subsidiary, Hottinger UK
Managing Director of Sofibus
About Frédéric Hottinger
With its Franco-Swiss background, Frédéric Hottinger’s family have been bankers for seven generations. Passionate about finance, his career is part of a long family tradition. Following studies in commerce, law and finance in Lausanne, Frédéric Hottinger first entered the Fusions and Acquisitions Department of the Baring Brothers merchant bank in Hong Kong and then took the role of financial analyst within the Brown Brothers and Harriman merchant bank in the USA.
Expert in international finance
Hottinger Group, an international company specialising in wealth and asset management since 1786, is well known worldwide for the quality of advice given. Its aim is to guarantee to make the best choices and investments for its clients. The group offers a large range of high-end services covering diverse needs: administrative solutions for the management of family assets through the Family Office Service, advice in managing family wealth, support in business management and professional capital, private investment advice, discretionary portfolio management, property portfolio management and the valuation of works of art.
Following the death of his father in 2015, Frédéric Hottinger has redrawn the contours of Hottinger Group strategy. This is now concentrated on the creation and development of partnerships. Its targets? Important players in world-level finance, including Archimedes Private Office Limited (UK), Iteram (Luxembourg) and Engelwood (Luxembourg).
The banker has also become a member of the Supervisory Board of the subsidiary, Hottinger United Kingdom.
Frédéric Hottinger also supported fusion-acquisition transactions and business privatisation, particularly in Eastern countries, before opening several Hottinger Group subsidiaries in Europe (England, Luxembourg and Austria) and on the other side of the Atlantic (Canada).
Expert in property investment
Backed by these first experiences, Frédéric Hottinger re-joined the family holding, Sofibus Patrimoine. At the time, this property company dedicated to the management of property assets was managed by his father, Baron Henri Hottinger. At first responsible for marketing financial services within the banking group, Frédéric Hottinger was entrusted with institutional relationships and took the lead in fusion-acquisition activities. Henri Hottinger successfully developed the company’s activities, notably through the management of the Petits Carreaux business park located in Val-de-Marne. Frédéric Hottinger succeeded Henri Hottinger. With a real estate occupation rate exceeding 80%, Sofibus Patrimoine has demonstrated its drive and desire for growth, even in a period of crisis.
Tradition and modernity
The challenge this finance professional attempts to meet each day is to conserve and transmit the values anchored in the family group’s DNA over several generations, while adapting to the modern world.
For Frédéric Hottinger, the quality of the client relationship is of prime importance, at both Hottinger Group and Sofibus level. With the flagship notion of proximity, he pursues the goal of countering the large investment companies, which are most often faceless.
All the Group subsidiaries are companies organised on a human scale. This dimension of proximity which the business cultivates with its clients is equally important with colleagues. Good understanding, active listening, internal communication and team cohesion are among the managers’ priorities. The well-being of all colleagues is also at the forefront of all the projects and action undertaken.
Through a management style which takes account of environmental issues, Sofibus Patrimoine demonstrates its desire to develop in an environmentally sound way. With its ISO 14001 certification, Sofibus is committed to the environmental management of its activities. This commitment also proves the ability of the company to adapt to a context which is in constant evolution. From the rehabilitation of premises to raising the awareness of tenants, ecological issues are always taken into consideration. A born entrepreneur, Frédéric Hottinger builds all his projects around a real social and accountable dimension. This quality differentiates the Sofibus Patrimoine Group from other companies which want to grow quickly, whatever the price.
Frédéric Hottinger : his vision of finance
Beyond his professional activities, Frédéric Hottinger is drawn to new technologies and the world of start-ups. Convinced by the strength and potential of video gaming, he has given financial support to a network of young fledgling entrepreneurs specialising in this field and follows its progress very closely.
His vision of finance demonstrates an evident detachment from the world. According to him, this is “an advanced observatory of the economic world, which itself constitutes the main key to understanding the contemporary world.” This insatiable desire to discover and learn a little more about the society around him has given him the keys to be able to adapt to new markets and also to be successful with all the assignments entrusted to him and to lead his companies even further.