The oldest firms in the world. Business as a family heirloom. Key indicators of the company

A company is considered a long-liver if it has existed for more than 10 years, and we can’t even talk about such terms as hundreds of years. Domestic businessmen need to learn how to extend the life of their company from foreign companies some of them have been in operation for centuries.

Interesting fact № 1: For example, a construction company in Kongō Gumi Co.,Ltd in Japan was founded in 578, and ended its existence in 2006, that is, after 15 centuries. At first she prospered by building castles for kings, then, during the Second World War, she had to sell coffins. Did it have to be produced corrugated pvc pipes– unknown. But by the end of the 20th century, the company had accumulated a lot of debt and in 2006 it was taken over by a rival company.

Fun Fact #2: Almost as long worked and another Japanese Hōshi company specializing in hotel business. The first inn of this brand was opened to guests in 718. The firm has been continuously managed by 46 generations of the same family.

Fun Fact #3: In the capital Austria Vienna has a restaurant Stiftskeller St. peter, founded in 803. During his work, both crowned heads and even himself visited here. Christopher Columbus.

Fun Fact #4: One of the first breweries in Bavaria Weihenstephan Brewery of Bavaria has been brewing beer since 1040, when she received permission to produce this popular drink. Beer can be tasted in this institution today.

Fun Fact #5: Another brewery Affligem Abbey brewery of Belgium, already in Belgium, was founded by monks in 1074, and since then the beer recipe has not changed.

Fun Fact #6: Upper levels of salt mines open for tourists in Wieliczka The Wieliczka Salt Mine, which were founded in 1044. At the lower levels of the mines there is a restaurant and a church. At one time the mines were visited by Goethe, Copernicus, Bill Clinton.

Fun Fact #7: Mint Kremnica in Slovakia has been producing coins since 1328. Second World War caused great damage to the equipment, but it was gradually restored.


History knows hundreds of examples of how a small family business grew to the size of large companies with millions of turnovers. True, today many well-known brands have changed owners, who have owned for 100 years or more. So, Tissot, Chopard and Adidas were once family businesses.

In our today's Top 5 are collected the most successful family companies, whose owners manage to maintain control over the business.

5. Est?e Lauder Companies Inc.

This American company is the world's most famous cosmetics manufacturer and owner of such brands as Estee Lauder, Clinique, M A C, Donna Karan, Tommy Hilfiger, American Beauty. The company was founded in 1946 by Estée Lauder, who stood at the helm of her business for almost 50 years.

Today, the Lauder family owns more than 83% of the company's shares. Est?e Lauder Companies Inc. is an employer of 32 thousand people, and the annual profit of the company exceeds $210 million.

4 Siemens AG

The transnational concern is one of the world's largest manufacturers of electronics, transport, power equipment, lighting engineering. The company's shares are included in the base for calculating such important stock indices as DAX, S&P, Dow Jones.

The founder of the company in 1847 was the German engineer Werner Siemens, who was financially supported by cousin Johann Georg Siemens. The heirs of Werner Siemens turned the grandfather's company into a powerful corporation, represented in 190 countries around the world. Today Siemens employs 405,000 people.

3 Ford Motor Co.

The American automobile manufacturer is included in the Fortune 500 and Global 500 ratings. The founder of the company in 1903 was Henry Ford, who became famous for being the first to use the conveyor in the car assembly process.

Ford Motor Co. has been owned by the Ford family for over 100 years. Ford employs 350,000 people and generates over $160 billion in annual profits.

2. Walmart Stores

The American retailer operates the world's largest retail chain under the Walmart brand. The company is owned by the Walton family, and founder's son Robson Walton is chairman of the board.

AT Walmart network includes more than 10 thousand stores in 27 countries. The company's annual profit is more than $200 billion. Total population staff - more than 2 million people.

1.Samsung Group

One of the largest corporations in the world traces its history from a workshop for the production rice flour, discovered in the 1930s by the Korean Lee Byung Chol. There is a legend that Li Ben found money to start a business from the ruins of a burnt house.

Samsung in translation means "three stars". It is believed that the company was named after the three sons of Lee Byung-chul, the youngest of whom, Lee Kun-hee, was the head of family business. Despite his resignation, Lee Kun-hee is the owner of a large stake in the company, as well as the richest man in South Korea.

Today the annual turnover of the group Samsung companies is over $200 billion.

We continue the story about the world's oldest brands and companies, begun in the previous article, and offer you to get acquainted with a dozen more "long-livers" in the field of business.

This time we will get acquainted with the best mint of the European continent, old breweries, the oldest bar in Europe, the oldest hotel and the oldest construction company, which still fully operate in Japan today, as well as other companies with a long history.

The title of the "oldest" among the organizations involved in transportation and transportation belongs to the company "Shore Porters" from the Scottish Aberdeen, which has been continuously operating for over 500 years, starting in 1498, specializing, among other things, in the transportation of especially valuable goods from auctions, using for this own fleet of 30 trucks and minibuses.

2. Kremnica Mint

The mint in the Slovak Kremnica has almost seven centuries of history, dating back to 1328, when, by decree of the Hungarian king Charles Robert of Anjou. He ordered the minting of ducats and florins for circulation in Europe. Since the 14th century, coins issued by the Kremnica Mint have been among the most solid and high quality.

While many distilleries rely on third-party grape suppliers to produce cognac, Frapin boasts its own superb vineyards, allowing it to carefully control the entire alcohol-making process. Thanks to this policy, the company has been successfully operating for as long as 745 years, starting to produce cognac back in 1270! Owned by the Frapin dynasty brand from the French region of Grande Champagne, being a family business.

Affligem Abbey Brewery used a special beer recipe for hundreds of years, which was borrowed by the Belgian brewers who founded Affligem Abbey Brewery in 1074, which remained an independent company for 932 years before becoming part of the Heineken concern in 2006, but also after This company continued to produce its famous beer at the same plant.

5. Wieliczka Salt Mine

Since 1044, in the salt mines in Wieliczka, near the Polish city of Krakow, salt has been mined and delivered to many countries.

Although the mine has not been working for its intended purpose for a long time, it has been perfectly preserved and is now a popular tourist attraction, which was once visited by the Pope and Bill Clinton.

The oldest hotel in the world, located in the Japanese city of Yamanashi, has been operating without interruption since 705, and this achievement is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.

Throughout its history, the hotel has belonged to the same family, and by now 52 generations of its owners have already changed, and even positions in business management are inherited.

Such longevity is another confirmation that the real estate sector has always been profitable business. Today, the rental and sale of residential, commercial and industrial premises also a very profitable occupation, as evidenced by the huge number of companies in this market and simply incredible financial flows involved there. By the way, in Russia, many real estate agencies have switched to online job with clients and acquired their own Internet representations, such as http://www.prisly.ru, which works in all directions, while covering the whole region.

Another old brewery called "Weihenstephan" is located in the German city of Freising. It has been operating since 1040, producing beer under one of the world's most respected brands for almost 1000 years.

One of the oldest pubs in the world is located in the Irish Athlone, founded on an important stretch of the River Shannon, which since ancient times offered the safest path through the vast swamps. The date of birth of Sean's Bar is considered to be 900, so the institution has recently turned 1115 years old!

One of the best restaurants in the world has been operating in the Austrian Salzburg since 803, originating from the small refectory "St. Peter's Cellar", the name of which was inherited by the modern institution.

In the 21st century, Stiftskeller St. Peter" is considered a very prestigious and expensive restaurant, and many well-known personalities and celebrities in world history have visited its customers.

10. "Kongō Gumi"

Another long-lived Japanese company works in the construction industry. In 578, Kongō Gumi was founded in Osaka, specializing in the construction of temples and other buildings for over 14 centuries.

True, in 2006 it was absorbed by the Takamatsu Corporation, but at the same time it completely retained its identity, becoming just a subsidiary.

According to a study by Italian economists, the richest families in today's Florence are the descendants of the richest Florentine families who lived in the city on the Arno almost 600 years ago.

Many Florentine taxpayers for 1427 and 2011 have the same not only names and incomes, but also professions. The family business is the strongest and most durable. There are hundreds of family companies over 200 years old. Japan impresses with its centenarians: the age of several Japanese enterprises is approaching one and a half thousand years.

Wine seven hundred years old

Lamberto Frescobaldi lives near Florence, in a medieval castle that belonged to his ancestors for many centuries, and heads the family business. The ancestors of Signor Frescobaldi were winemakers - they supplied red wine to the court of Pope Leo X and Michelangelo.

“A person should feel his heritage on the tongue,” Bloomberg quotes the words of the 53-year-old Florentine winemaker Bloomberg. “The main thing is to properly dispose of it ...”

Many generations of the Frescobaldi clan have been engaged in the preservation and enhancement of the family fortune for more than 700 years. For Lamberto, the family heritage lies in one word - "wine". His acquaintance with red wine took place at the age of six, when Lamberto took part in a summer festival with winegrowers.

"Of course, they could not treat me with water," he defends the workers. "After all, I was the owner's son!"

Lamberto Frescobaldi graduated from the University of California at Davis with a degree in viticulture and is now the head of the Marchesi Frescobaldi Group. It bottles 11 million bottles of wine a year and is one of the largest in Italy. Lamberto even named his dog Brunello after the Brunello di Montalcino wine that his company produces.

Before entering the wine industry in 1308, the Frescobaldi were wool merchants and bankers. They financed, for example, the wars of King Edward I in Wales and France. The Frescobaldi family left a significant mark on the history of Florence. They built the first bridge in the city, the Holy Trinity Bridge. Among the members of this family are Giloramo Frescobaldi, one of the most famous composers of the early Baroque, and the poet Dino Frescobaldi. Dino collected and preserved the first seven songs of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy when he was sent into exile. This helped Dante complete the ingenious creation.

The Frescobaldi dynasty is not unique to Florence, the main city of Tuscany. Bank of Italy economic analysts Guglielmo Barone and Sauro Mocetti set out to trace intergenerational mobility in the city on the Arno. They compared data on Florentine taxpayers' payments for 1427 and 2011 and found a very significant constancy of socioeconomic status, which persists not for years, but for centuries.

Mobility is usually measured by intergenerational elasticity, or the correlation between paternal status and adult son status. The elasticity of intergenerational income, i.e. the ease with which individuals can change their income and level of socioeconomic status from generation to generation, measured from 0 to 1. Zero means complete intergenerational mobility, and 1 means complete inability to change income or status. The higher the elasticity, the lower the mobility. In the case of country incomes, for example, the elasticity varies widely, from less than 0.2 in the Scandinavian countries to almost 0.5 in Italy, the UK and the US.

Research organization Conference Board of Canada estimates the elasticity of income in the UK at 0.48, and in Italy - 0.5. These estimates, according to the London Independent, are relatively high compared to countries such as Denmark and Norway, where elasticity is 0.15 and 0.18 respectively.

Florentine Phenomenon

Giloramo Frescobaldi was not engaged in winemaking, he glorified his family as one of the most famous composers of the early Baroque

Most scientists have studied intergenerational mobility empirically and paid attention to the correlation of socioeconomic status between two neighboring generations - parents and their children. They share the theory that the economic advantages and disadvantages of previous generations quickly wear off after a few decades. American sociologists Gary Becker and Nigel Thomas, for example, argue in Human Capital, The Rise and Fall of Families (1986) that nearly all advantages or disadvantages in ancestral income disappear within three generations.

Barone and Mocetti take the opposite view.

"The dramatic political, demographic and economic upheavals that have taken place in the city (Florence) over the course of six centuries have failed to cut the Gordian knot of the socio-economic legacy," they write in a research article published on the economic portal VoxEU.

Italian economists chose the year 1427 not by chance: Florence, waging a grueling war with Milan, was on the verge of financial and political collapse. And, in order to increase the collection of taxes, the Florentine priors re-registered 10 thousand taxpayers (not only the names and surnames of the heads of families were indicated, but also their profession, income and fortunes).

Guglielmo Barone and Sauro Mocetti compared this data with Florentines' 2011 tax returns. It turned out that a good nine hundred names still exist today. Moreover, many bearers of old well-known names continue to pay high taxes, that is, they are now rich. Of course, due to the peculiarities of Italian surnames (often they were given according to the place of birth), simple coincidences are also possible, but most representatives of the same surnames are still blood relatives.

The socio-economic ladder of the city was dominated six centuries ago by powerful and wealthy guilds. Among the wealthiest Florentine taxpayers of that time were representatives of the shoemakers' guild, the silk guild, and the wool guild. Representatives of the guild of judges and notaries were quite a bit inferior to them in terms of income.

Lamberto Frescobaldi heads the Marchesi Frescobaldi company, one of the largest in Italy, and his ancestors supplied red wine to the court of Pope Leo X

For example, a number of the wealthiest families in Florence today are descendants of the most successful shoemakers of the 15th century. In the guild of shoemakers, the coincidence of the names of wealthy taxpayers in 1427 and 2011 is 97%, and in the silk guild and the guild of judges and notaries - 93%. Every third Florentine rich man of the 15th century remains wealthy today.

Analyzing tax records for 2011, Italian economists found that the five richest families on a five-year-old list of Florentine taxpayers that they don't name for ethical reasons broadly match those who paid the highest taxes 600 years ago. The wealthiest Florentine families earned between €64,228 and €146,489 in 2011.

Among the five poorest taxpayers in Florence in the 15th and XXI centuries there are also great similarities. The annual income of low-paid Florentines in 2011 ranged from €5,945 to €9,702.

A number of professions, such as shoemakers, lawyers, bankers and jewelers, show high temporal stability. A similar positive correlation, although to a lesser extent, has been found in doctors and pharmacists.

"The ancestors of the richest taxpayers of our time were at the very top of the socioeconomic ladder six centuries ago," say the Italian scholars.

A study by Italian economists testifies to the constancy of status. Moreover, it is the most stable among the richest

A study by Italian economists shows that changes in fortunes and socioeconomic status over 25 generations have been minimal, with limited opportunities to move up the socioeconomic ladder in Florence over 600 years.

Guglielmo Barone and Sauro Mocetti believe that low social and economic mobility is not only socially unfair, it can cause serious harm to society: “Societies characterized by high socioeconomic status transfer are often unfair. that it wastes the talents and experience of its members of low birth."

According to Barone and Mocetti, the rich are more likely to maintain high status for centuries - thanks to the so-called "glass floor that protects the descendants of wealthy people from falling down the economic ladder."

Someone may have associations between the studies of Italian scientists and the French economist Thomas Piketty, the author of the theory of growing income inequality, especially among the richest 1% of the population. The Italians themselves deny any connection with the works of Piketty, emphasizing that the purpose of their study is economic mobility. The message is that the rich stay rich, but it does not imply that they will necessarily get richer. Italian economists argue that their study shows that status is stable, and that it is the most stable among the richest.

And the circle of research by Barone and Mocetti is much wider: the focus of their attention is not 1% of the rich, but the entire population of Florence.

By country and continent

Photo: Science Museum London/DIOMEDIA

In Japan, the percentage of family businesses among registered firms is close to one hundred (96.5%)

Of course, state can be inherited. Parents play important role in determining social status. This theory is supported by other studies. Sociologists, for example, have come to the conclusion that even now, 140 years after the abolition of the Japanese samurai class, their descendants are included in the social elite of the Land of the Rising Sun, despite the fact that samurai and other representatives of the Japanese aristocracy have long lost their privileges, and all Japanese, under the current constitution, are equal. Gregory Clark, professor at the University of California, writes about the preservation - for centuries - of wealth and status in his book "The Rise of the Son". And he does not hide his surprise at how much the well-being and condition of contemporaries depends on what their ancestors did and how successfully they did it several centuries ago.

Logic would seem to suggest that, as far as Japan is concerned, dramatic social upheavals such as the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ended Japan's feudal system, or the defeat in World War II should give rise to low social mobility. However, Clark's work refutes this logic.

A study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows that in many European countries, not only wealth and income are "sticky", but also professions that also pass from generation to generation.

More than a third of the richest Italians have inherited their money. In the United States, 29% are, and in China, according to a study conducted in 2014 by the Institute international economy Peterson, only 2%.

The highest level of billionaire heirs among developed economies is in Germany, 65%. In general, heirs and heirs make up about half of Western European billionaires.

"You can hardly find another country where the social origin of income is higher than in Germany," says Marcel Fratzscher, director of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), in a recent book.

The high proportion of family-rich people in Germany is partly a consequence of a tax system that, until literally 2016, allowed family companies, including the mass of medium-sized firms that are the backbone of the economy, to transfer financial assets by inheritance, while paying a very low special tax.

A descendant of perhaps the richest European family of the 16th century, Count Alexander Fugger-Babenhausen considers the preservation of family fortunes a great responsibility. The 34-year-old aristocrat recently returned to his homeland after several years at a London-based investment bank. Now he manages family assets and does charity work.

Residents of the Augsburg Fuggerei, cozy two-story houses with terraces, annually pay one Rhine florin bequeathed by Jakob Fugger, which corresponds to the current ... € 0.88. In exchange for a purely symbolic rent, they must say prayers three times a day for the salvation of the souls of the founder of the social shelter and his family.

By the way, 140 Fugger apartments also proved their strength, having survived an astronomical number of wars and partial destruction during the Second World War. They were restored according to old plans. The unique decoration of the Renaissance period has also been preserved, including, for example, lever mechanisms for opening doors that allowed residents to let guests in without leaving the only heated room in the house.

Family business is the strongest

There are about 200 family companies in the world with an annual turnover exceeding $ 2 billion. Suffice it to say that Wal-Mart Stores, the largest retail chain on the planet, belongs to the family.

Family business plays a very important role in the economy of many countries. Its strongest positions are in trade and services. Nearly half are employed in family businesses work force planet, they produce more than half of the world's GDP.

“The family business predated the advent of multinational corporations,” writes Professor William O’Hara, director of the Family Business Institute (IFE) at Bryant University, in Centuries of Success. “It predates the Industrial Revolution. The family business existed before Greece and the Roman Empire. Most of the old family companies, for all their individuality and dissimilarity, are united by the fact that they work in basic areas human activity and are engaged in the production of alcoholic beverages and foodstuffs, weapons, transportation of goods, construction, etc. "

In Japan, the percentage of family businesses among registered firms is approaching one hundred (96.5%). Quite a bit inferior to the Japanese Indians and Mexicans. In these countries, the share of family business is 95%

If we talk about geography, then greatest development family business received in three countries. In Japan, the percentage of family businesses among registered firms is approaching one hundred (96.5%). Quite a bit inferior to the Japanese Indians and Mexicans. In these countries, the share of family businesses is 95%.

According to American economists Melissa Shanker and Joseph Astrakhan, there are 24 million family businesses in the United States. They employ 62% of all American workers, and their contribution to the country's GDP is 64%. BusinessWeek magazine estimated that in 2006 more than a third of Fortune 500 members (35%) belonged to family companies.

The notion that family businesses don't last is hardly true: Family Business magazine has counted several hundred family businesses that are more than two centuries old.

Some ten years ago, old company on the planet was considered Japanese construction firm Kongo Gumi. She continues to work even now, but, alas, she has left the category of family ones.

The family business was founded by the carpenter Shigemitsu Kongo, who arrived in Osaka at the end of the 6th century with his family and numerous relatives from the Korean kingdom of Baekje. He built Shitennoji Temple in the ancient capital of Japan, one of the oldest Buddhist temples in the country. Construction, which began in 578, dragged on for a decade and a half.

Kongo took root in Osaka and founded a company that is now more than 14 centuries old! Kongo Gumi specialized in the construction of religious buildings, and this specialization has been preserved by the Kongo people to this day. In 2004, for example, temples accounted for nearly 80% of the $67.6 million in revenue.

The Kongo family is first mentioned in one of Japan's oldest written records, the Nihon Seki, dating back to 720. For 1428 years, the company was led by 40 presidents. All of them bore the surname Kongo, although not all were native Kongo. When sons were transferred to the family, the firm was headed by sons-in-law. Required condition: They were supposed to take the name of the founder of the business. Unlike most family companies, which automatically pass to the eldest son, the president of Kongo has always been, regardless of seniority, the most capable son or son-in-law.

Kongo carefully preserves history and traditions. The company's last president, Masakazu Kongo, claims that 90% of the carpentry techniques used by Shigemitsu are still in use today.

The three-meter scroll with a list of company executives has only one female name: Yoshi Kongo led the family business after the suicide of the 37th president.

After the Meiji Restoration, the authorities stopped funding the construction of temples. Financial position companies began to deteriorate. In the 20th century, Kongo had to build schools, nursing homes and other buildings and structures, and during the war even made coffins.

In 2004, Kongo's profits fell by more than a third - by 35% compared to 1998. Worker layoffs and austerity on everything, including stationery didn't help. The debts reached $343 million. By the beginning of 2006, the company could no longer service them. Ten years ago, Masakazu declared a firm that employed 100 people bankrupt. The company was bought by construction giant Takamatsu. Kongo retained the name but became a division of Takamatsu.

After the "death" of Kongo, the title of the oldest family company passed to another Japanese company - now the oldest is Hoshi Ryokan, which has been in the hotel business for almost 1300 years.

Hoshi owns a hotel in Komatsu, Ishikawa Prefecture. The date of her birth is considered to be 718. According to legend, the god of the sacred mountain Hakusan told the Buddhist priest Taiko in a dream to find an underground source of hot water with healing properties. The source was found at the specified location. Taiko ordered the carpenter Garyo Hoshi to build an inn near him, which later became the Hoshi Inn.

Photo: Sergey Vishnevsky, Kommersant

Ten years ago, the oldest company on the planet was considered the Japanese construction company Kongo Gumi, founded by Shigemitsu Kongo, who came to Osaka at the end of the 6th century and built Shitennoji Temple in the ancient capital of Japan.

About 450 guests can be accommodated in one hundred and a small rooms of "Hoshi". The owners of the hotel for 1298 years were 46 generations of the descendants of Garyo. It is now owned by Zengoro Hoshi.

Of course, there are representatives of the Old World in the list of family companies with a long history. Until recently, the oldest of them was the French company Chateau de Goulaine, whose main field of activity is still winemaking. The Goulins family owns a medieval castle, built around 1000, near Nantes, and extensive vineyards. The castle has a museum with a large collection of rare butterflies, weddings and other celebrations are often held.

This spring, the Gulens put the castle with vineyards up for sale. Therefore, the title of the oldest family company in Europe may soon pass to the Italian Fonderia Pontificia Marinelli, which specializes in casting church bells. The foundry has been located in the very center of the peninsula, in the town of Agnone, for a thousand years. Just like in Kongo, Marinelli's casters still use the technique of making molds from wax, which was invented by the founder of the company.

The company's bells ring in churches in New York, Beijing, Seoul, Jerusalem, European and South American cities. Marinelli is led by Pascale Marinelli. The company employs 20 people, a quarter of them bear the name Marinelli.

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Why family businesses are attractive

Family companies outperform their non-family competitors in terms of profitability, return on investment, revenue dynamics and EBITDA, according to The CS Family 1000 report. Credit Suisse experts explain this by the peculiarities in the approach to financial management. Representatives of the "dynastic" business pay more attention to the stability of the balance sheet and try not to resort once again to borrowing from external sources, financing the business at the expense of own funds, as a result, the ratio of net debt to EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation) in such companies is below average by 20%. As a result, they are less affected by interest rate fluctuations than non-family companies and more easily weather periods of market volatility.

Photo: Michele Limina / Bloomberg

In such companies, the board of directors makes decisions more quickly, especially if there is a representative of the founder's or owner's family among the members of the board. “Thanks to this, coordination between all shareholders is faster. And the faster, the more effective," says Bogdan Zvarich, Senior Analyst at Freedom Finance Investment Company. In the case of a large dispersion of shares among minority shareholders the process of agreeing on important issues may be delayed, and due to uncertainty, the value of the company's securities may decrease, the expert explains. However, this type of management may also have disadvantages - it may be deprived of objectivity in decision-making, warns investment analyst at Veles Capital Aleksey Adonin. In his opinion, the more independent directors on the board, the better it will be for the management of the company.

The human factor is also important. “A family company is effective when the owner attaches great importance to family traditions or continues them when it comes to the second and next generations,” says Anton Ionov, Ernst & Young partner and head of the CIS private client services group, who studies family business in Russia. The owner of a family company treats business not as a means of momentary receipt of money, but as a mission and work of his life and future generations, the expert notes.​

And what about in Russia?

Domestic portfolio managers believe that the conclusions of Swiss analysts on the global market should not be rushed to apply to Russian practice. “Family companies have been formed in the West for centuries, and our companies are not so long ago on the market so that we can work out and evaluate the impact of continuity and family traditions on financial results business. Yes, and most market economy a little over 20 years,” says Bogdan Zvarich.

According to Credit Suisse, the average age of family businesses in developed countries Europe is 80 years, in the USA - 61 years, in Latin America- 44 years, in Asia - 37 years, and in countries of Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa - 30 years.

Nevertheless, there are family companies in Russia. Analysts at Ernst & Young, together with the Center for Family Business at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland), identified 12 enterprises in Russia, the controlling stake of which or the decisive vote in the board of directors belongs to one couple, and the shares of nine of them can be bought on the stock exchange. These 12 Russian companies were included in a study of 500 companies from around the world, where the family's share of ownership or the number of votes on the board of directors was more than 32% for public companies and 50% for non-public companies. From public family companies, Rusal, Sistema, Magnit, Dixy Group, Severstal, Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK), Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works (NLMK), Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK), got into the E&Y rating, "Mechel", from non-public - "T Plus", "Stroygazmontazh", SUEK.

According to the authors of the rating, the share of shares owned by one family in these companies is 40-100%. All this belongs to the families of famous billionaires - Deripaska, Yevtushenkov, Galitsky, Lisin, Melnichenko, Mordashov, Rotenberg, Vekselberg, Zyuzin, Pumpyansky, Kesaev and Katsiev.

Most of the Russian family companies in the sample are from the metallurgy sector. From October 2007 to October 2017, the sectoral index of metals and mining of the Moscow Exchange grew by 68%, and it is rational to compare the dynamics of individual securities of metallurgical companies with it. For ten years, the market value of NLMK and MMK shares has grown by 37%, Severstal - by 53%. Shares of TMK during this time decreased by 77%. Papers of Mechel and Rusal entered the market later than ten years ago, but their dynamics turned out to be several times worse than the dynamics of the sectoral index.

Dixy and Magnit represent the consumer sector. The corresponding industry index of the Moscow Exchange for ten years has risen by 2.2 times. During the same period, Dixy shares lost about 7% of their value. Shares of "Magnit" for the same time increased by 8.58 times.


Photo: Oleg Kharseev / Kommersant

Shares of AFK Sistema (which controls assets from various sectors of the economy) have fallen by 65% ​​in ten years. The MICEX index rose during this time by about 20%.

Thus, of the nine papers under consideration, the market as a whole (according to the MICEX index) was able to outperform the papers of only four companies, and only the shares of Magnit were able to outperform their sector (according to the sectoral indices of the Moscow Exchange).

To take or not to take

Russian experts believe that securities It is worth taking a closer look at such enterprises, but in no case make decisions about investing in them just because world statistics show an attractive return for an investor. In their opinion, it is worth paying attention to the personality of the owner himself, his plans to transfer the business to relatives, as well as the willingness of the latter to accept and competently conduct it. “All companies that could be attributed to this category are still at the helm of the founders, that is, the first generation. Therefore, it is not yet necessary to talk about continuity and its consequences, ”says Bogdan Zvarich.

But the current leaders are not going to pass the business on to the next generations. According to a survey of about 3 thousand owners and managers of family companies in the world, conducted in 2016 by PwC, in Russia only 9% of the surveyed businessmen plan to transfer their business to their children against 39% in the world, but in our country 39% against 17% plan to sell it in the world.

“We have not developed a tradition of handing over business as an inheritance. Money is more valued here and now than the fortune that children will have thanks to business,” says Anton Ionov. “More often there is a scheme that a businessman sells his shares to a partner, and he already gives the proceeds from them to his heirs,” says Viktor Markov, senior analyst at Zerich Capital Management. Therefore, global trends cannot be applied to Russian market who doesn't have much experience under his belt.

 

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