Ernesto Bertarelli

Ernesto Bertarelli is Fabio Bertarelli’s son and he is the heir of the company Serono with her sister Donna Bertarelli. Serono develops pharmaceuticals products and was founded in 1906 in Rome.

In 1973, the family moved to Switzerland to escape the Red Brigades, Italian left-wing terrorist group.

Ernesto lives his youth on the Lake of Geneva’s banks, where he discovers a passion for sailing and competition. He was educated at Babson College in Boston and then he obtained a MBA from Harvard Business School.

In 1996, he succeeded his father as head of the family company. He transformed the business family, from treatments against infertility to Biotechnology Company, quadrupling the revenues in ten years.

With his sister, he owns the Grand Park Hotel, 5 star in Gstaad, interest in agriculture in Argentina and in diamond mines in Guinea.
In 2004, he was the fourth richest man in Switzerland, with a fortune estimated between 9 and 10 billion Swiss francs, according to business magazine Bilan. He was also ranked as 64th global fortune by Forbes in 2010.

In early 2008, he founded with his sister, the investment fund Ares Life Sciences, with which he bought in late June 2008 a Hungarian company Euromedic, specialized in dialysis, for €800 million. The fund is located in 14 countries, and owns 159 health centers.

During, his youth he discovered the passion for sailing. He won four times the Golden Bowl, the biggest competition in Europe. In 2000, he went to Auckland and saw the America’s cup victory of Team New Zealand. The new challenge is set up for the rich business man: Win the America’s cup. Bertarelli did an important investment of $50 million to constitute the team, called Alinghi. He recruited the best elements from team New Zealand, including the star: the skipper Russell Coutts.

Alinghi won the America’s cup in his first participation. In 2007, he won again, but this time without Russell Coutts.