Arthur Heilbronn checks every box of someone groomed to oversee one of the world’s most powerful multi-generational fortunes.
Arthur Heilbronn – Bloomberg
Deep family ties? Check. Ivy League pedigree? Check. Wall Street credentials? Check.
Now, there are growing signs the 38-year-old scion of the family behind Chanel is moving closer to the top of the firm managing its $90 billion fortune.
Since joining Mousse Partners — one of the world’s largest and most discreet family offices — six years ago, Heilbronn has assumed management roles overseeing his family’s investments in real estate, banking, and media. In the latest sign of his rise, the Harvard Business School graduate and former Goldman Sachs banker became a director earlier this year for one of Mousse’s key holding companies, filling the role vacated by longtime Chanel executive Michael Rena, who passed away, according to registry filings.
Heilbronn is the son of Charles Heilbronn, founder and chairman of Mousse since 1991. Charles is the half-brother of Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, third-generation heirs to the Chanel fortune.
The Wertheimers are grandsons of Pierre Wertheimer, one of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s original business partners when she founded the house in 1910. They share the same mother as Charles, Eliane Heilbronn, who was regarded as the family’s matriarch until her passing last year. All three sons are now in their 70s.
A representative for Mousse declined to comment.
Alain and Gerard Wertheimer — who reportedly own equal shares in privately held Chanel — each have an estimated net worth of $45 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Their wealth has remained resilient post-pandemic, even as rivals like LVMH, led by Bernard Arnault, and Kering SA, owned by the Pinault family, have been impacted by a slowdown in luxury spending.
Arthur Heilbronn’s ascent offers a rare insight into the succession strategy of a famously private family that has long kept its empire out of public scrutiny. Gerard Wertheimer’s son, David, has launched a private equity venture, though there’s no indication that other Wertheimer children are involved in Mousse.
“They feel less like a family office and more like a private endowment for a luxury empire,” said Marc Debois, founder of FO-Next, an advisory firm for family offices. “Among its peers, what puts them in the true top 1% isn’t size — it’s time; dividend-fed, multi-cycle patience.”
According to Bloomberg, at least 20% of the world’s 500 richest individuals now operate family offices, managing over $4 trillion in wealth.
A recent UBS Group AG survey of 317 family office clients found that just over half have a succession plan in place, with those in the U.S. and Southeast Asia most likely to have arranged one.
Heilbronn joined Mousse as a director in 2019 and later advanced to managing director, according to his LinkedIn profile. He currently co-heads private equity and venture direct investing alongside Paul Yun. He was also appointed to the supervisory board of Rothschild & Co. after Mousse Partners joined two other French dynasties in 2023 to help take the bank private — one of its most high-profile deals to date.
Chanel’s ultimate holding company is Mousse Investments Ltd., based in the Cayman Islands, which does not disclose its financial information. Mousse Partners is its investment arm, with offices in New York, Beijing, and Hong Kong.
Described as managing “a broad range of asset classes in public and private markets,” Mousse doesn’t reveal its total assets under management. However, public filings and media reports indicate holdings in stocks, real estate, credit, and private equity.
Mousse Partners employs more than three dozen professionals globally, including former analysts from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. Its chief investment officer, Suzi Kwon Cohen, joined nearly a decade ago after heading private equity for Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund in North America — placing her among the top female executives in the male-dominated family office sphere.
Over the years, Mousse has backed a wide variety of startups, including Brightside Health (mental health), Brandtech Group (digital advertising), Evolved by Nature (biotech), Harmless Harvest (food), and Thirty Madison (health care). In 2023, the firm joined the L’Oréal SA heiress in investing in luxury fashion brand The Row.
Not every investment has paid off. Beautycounter collapsed last year, and two of Mousse’s public holdings — an 8% stake in French digital firm NetGem SA and a 5.7% stake in Olaplex Holdings Inc. — have seen their shares plummet since their IPOs.
Mousse has also held a longstanding position in France’s publishing and audiovisual sectors through Media-Participations, which owns publishing houses, specialised media outlets, and produces comics and animated content.
The Chanel family — whose fashion house sells $970 sunglasses, $6,500 handbags, and $23,400 J12 watches — has also followed other French luxury dynasties into media. Bernard Arnault owns Les Echos, Le Parisien, and Paris Match. The Pinault family controls Le Point and Point de Vue. Chanel’s backers, through Mousse, hold stakes in Media-Participations.
Though Mousse is not involved in Chanel’s operations, both companies have offices in a luxury glass tower just south of Central Park in Manhattan — on the famed “Billionaires’ Row.” It’s one of the most expensive office buildings in the city and houses major financial tenants. Both Arthur and Charles Heilbronn list that location as their business address — the same building where Alain Wertheimer has maintained an office for many years.
Behind closed doors on that street, the next chapter in the Chanel dynasty’s succession plan may already be unfolding — but the family is unlikely to offer any public insight.
“We’re a very discreet family,” Gerard Wertheimer said in 2001. “We never talk.”
Specialist outdoor clothing producer Dryrobe has won a trademark case against a smaller label. The win for the business, which produces waterproof towel-lined robes used by cold water swimmers, means the offending rival must now stop selling items under the D-Robe brand within a week.
Image: Dryrobe
A judge at the high court in London ruled the company was guilty of passing off its D-Robe changing robes and other goods as Dryrobe products and knew it was infringing its bigger rival’s trademark reports, The Guardian newspaper.
The company said it has rigorously defended its brand against being used generically by publications and makers of similar clothing and is expected to seek compensation from D-Robe’s owners for trademark infringement.
Dryrobe was created by the former financier Gideon Bright as an outdoor changing robe for surfers in 2010 and became the signature brand of the wild swimming craze.
Sales increased from £1.3 million in 2017 to £20.3 million in 2021 and it made profits of £8 million. However, by 2023 sales had fallen back to £18 million as the passion for outdoor sports waned and the brand faced more competition.
Bright told the newspaper the legal win was a “great result” for Dryrobe as there were “quite a lot of copycat products and [the owners] immediately try to refer to them using our brand name”.
He said the company was now expanding overseas and moving into a broader range of products, adding that sales were similar to 2023 as “a lot of competition has come in”.
On Friday, France demanded a series of measures from Shein to demonstrate that the products sold on its website comply with the law, but dropped its initial request for a total three-month suspension of the online platform, which had been based on the sale of child-like sex dolls and prohibited weapons.
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At a hearing before the Paris court, a lawyer representing the state said that Shein must implement controls on its website, including age verification and filtering, to ensure that minors cannot access pornographic content. The state asked the court to impose a suspension of Shein’s marketplace until Shein has provided proof to Arcom, the French communications regulator, that these controls have been implemented.
Shein deactivated its marketplace- where third-party sellers offer their products- in France on November 5, after authorities discovered illegal items for sale, but its site selling Shein-branded clothing remains accessible. The state invoked Article 6.3 of France’s Digital Economy Act, which empowers judges to order measures to prevent or halt harm caused by online content.
“We don’t claim to be here to replace the European Commission,” the state’s lawyer said. “We are not here today to regulate; we are here to prevent harm, in the face of things that are unacceptable.” At the time of writing, the hearing is still ongoing.
In a statement issued last week, the Paris public prosecutor’s office said that a three-month suspension could be deemed “disproportionate” in light of European Court of Human Rights case law if Shein could prove that it had ceased all sales of illegal products. However, the public prosecutor’s office said it “fully supported” the government’s request that Shein provide evidence of the measures taken to stop such sales.
France’s decision comes against a backdrop of heightened scrutiny of Chinese giants such as Shein and Temu under the EU’s Digital Services Act, reflecting concerns about consumer safety, the sale of illegal products, and unfair competition. In the US, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Monday that he was investigating Shein to determine whether the fast-fashion retailer had violated state law relating to unethical labour practices and the sale of dangerous consumer products.
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BasicNet’s Kappa turns back the sporting clock for its new AW25 collection, which celebrates “local heroes in football” with a community-focused campaign “honouring the places and people that inspire a lifelong love of the game”.
Image: Kappa
The campaign shines a light on local talent Tyrone Marsh in his hometown of Bedford, revisiting the streets, pitches and community spots “that shaped his football journey”.
Local photographer Simon Gill, who had pictured Marsh during many home and away games, not only “captures the Bedford Town player in the spaces that helped define his skill”, but also highlights the brand’s “rich football heritage with contemporary streetwear energy, creating visuals that pay tribute to community, culture and grassroots football”.
The journey includes Hartwell Drive, the early days of his after-school kickabouts, Hillgrounds Road, synonymous with Bedford football culture, and then onto Faraday Square, locally identified by the concrete pitches and community spirit.
To reflect that journey, the AW25 collection “offers a sense of nostalgia” with Kappa’s long-standing history in fashion and sports “seen through the Omini logo placements and 222 Banda strip”.
The campaign sees Marsh wearing Kappa styles including the Lyman and Uriah Track Tops paired with the Ulrich Track Pants in classic colourways including navy and light blue.
The wider collection includes track tops, track pants, shorts, polos, sweatshirts and T-shirts, available at select retailers across the UK including 80s Casual Classics, Terraces Menswear and RD1 Clothing.
Politics8 years ago