No one really believes Ernesto Bertarelli sold Serono, his family-controlled pharmaceutical group, just to gain more freedom to defend the America’s Cup. But the timing could hardly have been better.
After spending months saying the Geneva-based company was not for sale, Mr Bertarelli last September told astonished investors that he had sealed a deal with Merck of Germany for his family’s 62 per cent stake. That netted the 41-year-old executive and his sister a cool €6.9bn – and more time for competitive sailing.
His taste for the sport developed as a child sailing on Lake Geneva. In time, the story goes, Bertarelli junior wanted to test more trying conditions than those of Switzerland’s languid lakes, and his mother arranged for him to sail on a big boat at sea.
Mr Bertarelli never looked back. While remaining faithful to Lake Geneva by competing regularly in the prestigious annual Bol d’Or trophy, he extended his interests to the high seas, including an unsuccessful attempt to develop a Formula One-style yacht racing circuit. A later, more successful scheme, was the development of a Swiss challenge for the America’s Cup. This led to the 2003 victory for Alinghi that turned Mr Bertarelli from a well-known figure in the pharmaceutical industry into a household name in Switzerland.
In the publicity surrounding the victory, much was made of Mr Bertarelli’s business acumen being put to use in competitive sailing. Indeed, he often referred to meticulous planning, adroit staff selection and intense teamwork to build an efficient machine as key business lessons that he had applied to Alinghi. As he says on the team’s website: “If you see my boat, you will understand my management style.”
Such skills are complemented by a keen interest in innovation and technology. Once dismissed as “daddy’s boy” at Serono, where he succeeded his father as chief executive at the young age of 30, it was largely under his guidance that the group fulfilled its crucial transformation into biotechnology – the bedrock of its spectacular success.
Similarly, in sailing, Mr Bertarelli has always emphasised high technology, whether for the hull, keel or sails. That enthusiasm has been combined with a keen imagination that some say helped provide the extra spark that clinched Alinghi’s success.
But for all his skills, Mr Bertarelli remains a complex personality. In public, he often seems brusque and ill at ease. Potentially charming and kind, he can be cold and dismissive. For many, his manner appears irredeemably arrogant. Some attribute that to an inner shyness and lack of confidence – possibly derived from living in his demanding father’s shadow – and only countered by constantly having to prove himself the best. His abrasive personality may have contributed to the July 2004 bust-up with Russell Coutts, the consummate sailing tactician behind New Zealand’s race victories, whom Mr Bertarelli had lured in May 2000 to become Alinghi’s skipper.
But while Mr Bertarelli’s single-mindedness, discipline and determination may grate, they have been huge assets for Alinghi. Apart from his skills on the water, he has played a big role in ensuring financial stability. Alinghi enjoys strong, Swiss-based sponsorship: the fact that Mr Bertarelli sits on the board of UBS, one of the team’s two lead sponsors, probably adds some security.
Whether discipline and determination will be enough to clinch a second Cup remains to be seen. If Alinghi wins, Mr Bertarelli will again become a hero at home, and any remaining nationalistic misgivings about selling Serono to the Germans will be swiftly forgotten. If he loses, at just 41, he has the comfort of not just a large fortune, but plenty of time to try again.
Haig Simonian is the FT’s bureau chief in Zurich
