Frederic Hottinger
Vice President and CEO of Sofibus and Member of Hottinger UK’s Supervisory Board
Finance – An Enlightened Choice
Frederic Hottinger is a direct descendent of the illustrious Hottinger banking family, and he’s recently taken the reigns of the family company. He is currently at the helm of EMBA NV holdings, located in Holland, and he runs the real estate and property management company Sofibus.
Frederic Hottinger is part of a Swiss family whose roots date back to the 14th century, and they’ve been known in the banking world for seven generations. He was born in 1961 in Neuilly-sur-Seine of French-Swiss nationality, and he grew up in France. His family environment certainly did not fail to influence his choice of profession — his passion for finance grew from an early age, and he decided to follow in his ancestors’ footsteps. As he likes to point out, finance is an advanced observation of the economic world, which is itself the key to understanding the contemporary world.
Besides finance, his passions include the world of economics, entrepreneurship, the thirst for challenge and the pursuit of new projects. His entire professional career, as well as his personal life, has been marked by curiosity and openness.
After completing his military service in the air force, Hottinger studied finance, commerce and law at Business School Lausanne, in the city of his ancestors.
A year later, in 1984, he obtained a New York Stock Exchange broker’s license. When he finished his studies, he was eager to learn the ropes of the industry away from the family environment, so he joined the mergers and acquisitions department of the English business bank Baring Brothers.
In this capacity he moved to Hong Kong, a city with a thriving economic scene.
After spending two very valuable years with Baring Brothers, Frederic returned to Brown Brothers & Harriman (New York) as a financial analyst. This job brought him closer to the world of economics and its various sectors while helping him acquire a global vision of financial challenges.
These first two professional experiences solidified his passion for the banking business.
A Policy of Openness For the Family Company
In 1988, Hottinger began working for the family company and joined the financial services marketing department.
For five years, he was responsible for institutional relations and helped manage relationships between the company and international partner banks.
His curiosity pushed him to explore new horizons: in the mid 1990s, he became fully dedicated to the bank’s mergers and acquisitions activities. These new functions led him to take part in several major acquisition transactions, particularly in the privatisation of Hungarian companies.
Hottinger’s third focus within the family company is managing assets. During the 2000s, he played an active role in strengthening the company’s international position and developing new subsidiaries.
He oversaw the opening of several subsidiaries in England, Luxembourg, Austria and later in Canada. It was during this time that Hottinger & Cie Luxembourg, Hottinger & Cie Limited (England) and Hottinger Partner Wien (Austria) were born.
After his father’s death in 2015, Hottinger played a leading role in defining the holding company’s strategic policy and its reorganisation. His job consisted of, and still consists of, creating mutually beneficial partnerships between the banking group and large global financial players in terms of synergising skills and resources.
This active policy of strategic partnerships is reflected in particular with the merger of Luxembourg-based companies Archimedes Private Office Limited and Iteram.
Hottinger is currently a member of Hottinger United Kingdom’s Supervisory Board.
Leading the family company, he runs a prestigious company that has maintained its approachability over time and is synonymous with independence, flexibility, proximity, impartiality, responsiveness, security and imagination.
More Than Just the Family Business…
Hottinger handles other ventures outside those within the family consortium. For many years, he helped his father manage Sofibus, a real estate company specialising in property holding and management.
Since becoming Vice President and CEO in 2015, he’s ensured that Sofibus pursues dynamic growth, enabling it to boast a business park occupancy rate in excess of 80%. Since 2017, Hottinger is the chairman of Sofibus.
He is also passionate about the world of start-ups and new technologies. Through his companies, he finances a network of start-ups specialising in gaming platforms and video gaming in Canada and the US.
When he’s not working, he enjoys spending time with his family. In his free time, he loves diving and navigating, especially off the Bahamian coast. He loves foreign languages, and he regularly works to perfect his Spanish and Italian.
Upon closer look, Frederic Hottinger weaves together four seemingly incompatible things: heritage with modernity, prudence with sound management, the life of an entrepreneur with family life, and a respect for past values with an openness to the future.