Tax evasion

I read somewhere yesterday that Pret, the company formerly known as Prêt à Manger, was registered in Luxembourg. Aha, I thought. Another pair of public school types who take care to make sure that their hard earned wealth - mostly of their own making in their case - stayed in the right hands.

Checking this morning, I find that the story is actually a little more complicated. They were public school types, Harrow and Lancing, who met at college in London. They founded Pret in 1986, having bought the name and concept from people who had failed to make it fly in Hampstead. They then did very well. Sold a chunk to MacDonald's in 2001. The rest of it went by way of one private equity operation to another, the JAB Holding Company, where all of it now lives. The Pret founders have taken their money, gone their separate ways and done well elsewhere.

While the JAB Holding Company turns out to be a German family trust, incorporated in Luxembourg, built from money from a successful German chemical business founded in the first part of the nineteenth century. And like the company noticed yesterday at reference 1, another company with a tricky war record - and one which appears to be working to make amends.

While reference 2 tells an even more complicated story, which includes investor relations. Which suggests shareholders other than members of the original Reimann family. 

Timed out.

Reference 1: http://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/08/continental-tyres.html.

Reference 2: https://www.jabholco.com/. The source of the snap above - with something of a gap between 1823 and 1956.

Reference 3: https://www.alfredlandecker.org/. Part of the amends. 'The Foundation’s work is firmly rooted in the lessons we must learn from the collapse of European civilization in World War II, epitomized by the murder of millions of Jews at German hands ... It seeks to build partnerships with leading institutions active in academia, public policy, education, history and remembrance ... The foundation is set up to work independently from the Reimann family members who initiated the Alfred Landecker Foundation. The Governing Council serves as a supervisory body and the Academic Council has an advisory function on the foundation’s academic projects'.