German billionaire Klaus-Michael Kuehne dies at 89
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German billionaire Klaus-Michael Kuehne was the controlling shareholder of Swiss logistics group Kuehne + Nagel.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
FRANKFURT – German investor Klaus-Michael Kuehne, the controlling shareholder of Swiss logistics group Kuehne + Nagel, has died aged 89, the company said on Aug 24.
Kuehne, the grandson of company co-founder August Kuehne, also held major stakes in German groups Lufthansa, Hapag-Lloyd and chemicals trade group Brenntag, as well as bus and train services operator Flix.
A dominant figure in global shipping and logistics, he transformed Kuehne + Nagel from a family freight forwarder into one of the world’s largest logistics groups and amassed a fortune that made him one of Germany’s richest investors. His holdings are worth more than US$44.2 billion (S$56.1 billion), according to Forbes.
He became chief executive of Kuehne + Nagel in 1975 and was the chairman of its board of directors between 1992 and 2011.
With strong family ties to northern Germany, Kuehne formed a group of investors that agreed to buy Hapag-Lloyd’s Hamburg-based container shipping business from TUI in 2008 to prevent it from getting folded into a global rival.
A commanding presence among German family investors, he later acquired 20 per cent of the voting rights in German flagship carrier Lufthansa Group. REUTERS
