A $30 Billion Bet on Coffee Brands Flopped — Advisers Still Made a Fortune
August 14, 2024
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Two longtime advisers to one of the world’s richest families devised a gutsy consumer bet to bolster their bosses’ wealth: Snap up a bunch of household-name coffee brands to rival industry giant Nestle.
About a decade on, that $30 billion wager has flopped, at least relative to the advisers’ own benchmark index for success. Had the Reimann family invested in a low-cost fund tracking that index, they’d be worth more than $50 billion. Instead, they’re worth about half of that.
JAB's Mixed Performance Against MSCI
Returns over last three years
Source: JAB, MSCI.
Despite JAB Holding Co.’s mixed track record, advisers Peter Harf and Olivier Goudet have made a personal fortune, underscoring the risks and pitfalls associated with the opaque world of private capital and the significant power wielded by those in charge of it.
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After weeks of protests and a brutal crackdown, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to step down and flee the country. Stepping into the political vacuum is Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus, who spoke with Bloomberg last month when he was facing charges that his supporters said were trumped up by Hasina.
On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, Bloomberg’s Kai Schultz explains what drove Hasina’s downfall, Yunus’s surprising turn to politics, and what’s at stake for one of Asia’s most promising economies.
