How the Bossard Group makes use of the Kolin Holding company

While sports fans will associate the name Bossard with the city’s ice-hockey stadium, those of a more technical background will know that the Bossard Group is among the market leaders, not only in Europe but in the Americas and also the Asia-Pacific region, when it comes to fastening technology, supplying, for example, parts to the Tesla electric car company. What also might not be generally known is that descendants of the founding family of the business, whose headquarters are on Steinhauserstrasse in the city, still play a major role in its leadership.
 
The roots of the Bossard company actually date back to the 18^th century, with the then Kolin family trading in silk. However, when Franz Kaspar Bossard (1760-1843) married Paula Kolin (1770-1872), he abandoned the silk business in 1831 and set up an ironmongery. After initial problems, it flourished and continued to be run in the same family over four generations. Indeed, until the end of the Second World War, it remained a local ironmongery. Not that the company has not has its challenging times, supplies of iron stopping during WW2 itself, and the taking over a business in Germany in the Seventies proved to have been a mistake, it being subsequently sold off, redundancies ensuing, too.
 
In more recent years, tragedy has struck the family and on more than one occasion. Company chairman Peter Bossard, who was also a cantonal parliamentarian, was among those killed during the Zug Massacre of 2001, when a man bearing a grudge against the authorities shot dead 14 members of the cantonal parliament before turning the gun on himself. Then, at the end of 2004, his brother Heinrich, the CEO of the company, was killed in an air-crash in New Zealand.
 
Beat Grob, 55, the chairman of the board of the Kolin Holding company (on the right in the photograph), said, “There we were, members of the seventh generation of the family, having to assume responsibility before we were expecting to.” It is his mother, Susy Grob-Bossard, who was the sister of the two afore-mentioned deceased brothers Peter and Heinrich. In addition to his duties in being responsible for the company’s interests in central Europe, he is also, as mentioned, chairman of the board of the Kolin Holding, the company which holds all the shares of the Bossard family members, enabling them to maintain control of their business empire, having 56% of voting rights, despite owning “only” 26% of the capital.
 
As Grob went on to say, “It was in 2005, with financial investors and competitors knocking at the door, that we, as a family, sat down to consider whether we wanted to continue to lead this company founded by our forefathers, and also whether we were capable of doing so. And we all agreed, unanimously, that this is what we wanted to do. For us at Bossard, it is not just a question of ownership, it is about the company’s culture and values. We want family members to be able to remain in positions of authority in the company and endeavour to live up to the values we consider important. Hence the profile of the company we published in 2005, outlining how we lead the business.”
 
Another member of the family, Thomas Schmuckli-Grob, 54, (on the left in the photograph) is the chairman of the board of the company. He is the husband of Susanne Grob, the daughter of Susy Grob-Bossard and the sister of the afore-mentioned Beat Grob. A lawyer born in Lucerne, Schmuckli has been on the company’s board since 2000 and its chairman since 2007. He mentioned how, in the early years, he spent much time just listening and learning, Kurt Reichlin actually taking over the deceased Peter’s role, until ten years ago. Schmuckli went on to explain that he has no assets invested in the company himself, it is his wife who holds shares in the Kolin Holding. As someone marrying into the family he had no claim to them, a ruling determined by the family themselves.
 
In addition to Thomas Schmuckli and Beat Grob, other members of the Bossard family in key roles in the company include Daniel Bossard, the son of Heinrich, who is responsible for business with northern and eastern Europe; he is also a member of the board of the Kolin Holding. Then there is Andreas Bettagia, a son-in-law of Peter, who is likewise a member of the board of the Kolin Holding, while also being responsible for purchasing and logistics. Peter’s daughter, Helene Wetter Bossard, also sits of the company’s board. As Schmuckli added, of course, it is not just about members of the family wanting to take on these senior roles; they have to prove they have the appropriate capability to do so, too.
 
However, the CEO of the company, which achieves an annual turnover of some CHF 700 million and employs 2,200, is David Dean, the first person in this role not to be a family member. Dean was actually CFO before taking on the late Heinrich Bossard’s role in 2004.
 
Five times a year members of the Kolin Holding meet up for family and strategy days, to ensure the next generation is familiar with the company. The Bossard dynasty, so to speak, its actually made up of 41 members whose ages range from those born in 1929 to 2014. As Schmuckli added, “Each member has the choice of whether to be simply a shareholder, become active with the company, partly or entirely, or play no role in it at all.”

Alongside the Kolin Holding, there is also a family foundation, which is used to buy shares of family members who wish to sell them, if no other member of the family wants to buy them. As Beat Grob explained, use of this has indeed been made on one occasion, when one family member did sell all his shares.
 
“That peace reigns among the family is very important,” said Grob. “We have had to discuss many an awkward situation in the Holding at times, and in such situations, we bring in external experts.”