Author丨Wu Shuang.
Editor丨Li Yumin.
Recently, the death of a financial tycoon has brought a legendary and mysterious financial family back into the public eye.
On February 26, the Rothschilds announced that Lord Jacob Rothschild, a financier and philanthropist, had died at the age of 87.
Many Chinese's understanding of the Rothschilds began with the book "The War of Money", in which the Rothschilds were described as the world's richest people with "invisible avenues".
According to the book, the first founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty was Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who started as a dealer in rare coins and later played the role of financial advice to the German aristocracy.
Rothschild Sr. then sent his five sons to five international metropolises: Frankfurt, London, Paris, Vienna and Naples, to establish a network of cross-border business contacts. Since then, the Rothschild family has been able to sway around the European financial markets, laying the foundations of a financial empire.
Rothschild Bank rose to fame in 1815 when Nathan Mayer Rothschild, one of his five sons, made his fortune buying British** bonds in anticipation of Napoleon's crushing defeat at Waterloo.
Jacob's multiple identities
In fact, after more than 200 years of development, the Rothschild family has gradually branched out and made achievements in many fields. Jacob was a key figure on the path of Rothschild's financial empire, but he also made outstanding contributions in the field of culture and art.
Jacob Rothschild's family said in a statement sent to the British National News Agency (PA) that "our father, Jacob, was an outstanding presence in the lives of many people". In the statement, he described him as "a financier of outstanding achievement, a leader in the field of culture and the arts, a faithful servant of society, a champion of Israeli and Jewish cultural philanthropy, a passionate environmentalist, and a beloved friend, father and grandfather."
Born in April 1936, Jacob was educated at Eton College before studying history at Oxford** Church. A descendant of a famous British banking dynasty, he joined the Rothschild family business after graduating from university.
Jacob eventually left the family business due to a strategic dispute with his cousin Evelyn, taking his own stake and forming RIT Capital Partners. RIT Capital Partners was listed on the London ** Stock Exchange on August 1, 1988 with a net worth of 2£8.1 billion. It is currently one of the largest investment trusts in the UK, with a market capitalisation of around £3 billion. Jacob served as Chairman of the Company from its inception until his resignation as Chairman and Board of Directors on September 30, 2019.
In 1991, Jacob also co-founded the J Rothschild Assurance Group with Sir Mark Weinberg and Mike Wilson.
Currently, Jacob's daughter, Hannah, still serves on the RIT Board of Directors. In a statement, RIT said: "It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of our founder and former chairman. ”
Jacob has also held many other important roles during his decades-long career. Between 2003 and 2008, Rothschild served as Vice Chairman of British Sky Broadcasting and was a member of the International Advisory Board of the American private equity giant Blackstone. He backed Sir Martin Sorel's S4 Capital after he left the advertising group WPP.
In addition, Jacob is a well-known philanthropist and patron of the arts, leading a number of cultural institutions and personally funding building restoration projects across the UK. From 1985 to 1991, he served as Chairman of the National Gallery's Trustees, and from 1994 to 1998 he served as President of the National Lottery Legacy**.
Lord Rothschild was talented, knowledgeable, well-mannered, and he was a great executive and a great leader," said Gabriele Finaldi, director of the National Gallery. "The transformation of the late '80s and early '90s of the 20th century owes much to his energy and vision. ”
Jacob helped restore Somerset House, London's neoclassical landmark, and spent £16 million to renovate Spencer House, an 18th-century mansion next to Green Park. George Osborne, former chancellor of the Exchequer and director of the British Museum, wrote on social media: "I am saddened to hear about Jacob de Rothschild – who made a great contribution to the cultural and commercial life of Britain to the fullest extent of his abilities".
According to last year's Sunday Times rich list, the Rothschilds are estimated to own about 8£2.5 billion ($1 billion) in wealth. It reportedly donated millions of pounds to Jewish causes, education and the arts.
A long time must be together
Like the Rothschild family crest, the five sons of the elder Rothschild were like five sharp arrows shooting into the European continent and developing in their respective fields, but as time passed, the family business that was still in operation eventually only survived in England and France, and the family branches in other regions gradually withdrew from the core business for various reasons.
After World War II, the two remaining branches of Rothschild Bank, each in London and Paris, resumed their traditional operations, each serving the local authorities. In 1953, the Paris branch established the Edmond de Rothschild Group, a private bank specializing in asset management. In London, Jacob resigned from the bank in 1980 after a conflict with Evelyn and took control of the investment firm Rothschild Investment Trust (later renamed Rit Capital Partners).
But as the global financial sector continues to be dominated by giants, banks in London and Paris are looking to expand their partnerships; At the same time, the Rothschild family in London faced the problem of having no successor because their descendants were disconnected from finance by their careers. As a result, the British and French Rothschild banks, which had long had cross-shareholdings, officially merged in 2003.
Evelyn gave her shares** to her French cousin in 2007 for $2For $3.3 billion, David René de Rothschild, son of Baron Gay, became CEO and the two banks were fully merged in 2012.
Today, the Rothschild Group has three main businesses, namely Investment Banking, Wealth and Asset Management, and Commercial Banking. In China, the Rothschild Group has also been directly involved in a number of investments, such as a stake in the Bank of Qingdao and a joint venture with CITIC East China Group in Penglai, Shandong Province. In addition, there are a number of major IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, including Alibaba Group's Alibabacom IPO in Hong Kong, Geely's acquisition of Volvo, and ChemChina's acquisition of Pirelli tires, etc.
While Rothschild Bank can't match JPMorgan Chase or Citibank when it comes to providing billions of dollars in loans, it regularly ranks among the top 10 companies in the world that advise on important M&A deals. Last year, Rothschild & Co advised on 22 deals worth $16 billion, leading the way in both value and volume, according to GlobalData's rankings.
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Editor: Liu Xueying, intern: Zhao Fengling.
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