Richemont Names Thomas Loest as Global General Counsel

Richemont Names Thomas Loest as Global General Counsel

Thomas Loest, former general counsel of Kraft Heinz, has been appointed as the new global general counsel of Swiss-based luxury goods group Richemont. Loest confirmed the appointment on his LinkedIn page. Having joined Kraft Heinz in 2019 as GC for EMEA, he was promoted to international GC in April 2020.

During his career, Loest has worked in a variety of European-based in-house positions, including roles at paper company Georgia Pacific, multinational footwear company Nike, and personal care corporation Kimberly Clark. He started his career as an associate at Hogan Lovells.

Following reports that Paris-based luxury conglomerate LVMH is considering acquiring Geneva-based Richemont, the latter has announced a change in leadership. In February, Swiss newspaper Finanz und Wirtschaft reported that LVMH's CEO, Bernard Arnault, had his sights set on Richemont's Cartier watch brand to bolster LVMH's jewellery segment, which already includes brands such as Tiffany & Co, Bvlgari, and Chaumet. It is worth noting that earlier this month, Arnault overtook Tesla founder Elon Musk as the world's richest person according to Forbes' annual World's Billionaires list.

Richemont was founded in 1988 by South African businessman Johann Rupert and his family has maintained a controlling stake in the company ever since.

Richemont currently holds the fourth position among the largest luxury companies in the world in terms of market capitalisation. The company's portfolio includes a diverse range of 26 maisons and businesses, such as Chloé, Montblanc, IWC, A. Lange & Söhne, Van Cleef & Arpels, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, Piaget, and Vacheron Constantin. Additionally, it also operates retail platforms under the YOOX Net-a-Porter Group.