Brothers Who Made Billions on Pharma Firm Boost Health Bets
Germano and Giammaria Giuliani are still betting on the sector that made their family one of the world’s richest.
(Bloomberg) -- Germano and Giammaria Giuliani are still betting on the sector that made their family one of the world’s richest, even after shifting some of their wealth into finance, technology and travel.
Investment funds for the billionaire brothers put $133 million into a half-a-dozen or so health-focused businesses from the start of 2020 through July, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
That includes almost $100 million in Cambridge, Massachusetts-based cell therapy companies ElevateBio and AlloVir Inc., according to a regulatory filing by Nogra Group. The Luxembourg-based firm manages investments for the brothers, including most of their combined holding of about $2.2 billion in New York-based Royalty Pharma Plc.
Nogra allocated $35 million to ElevateBio last year and added an additional $22.4 million in March, when the company raised $525 million from investors including Softbank Group Corp., according to Nogra’s recently published 2020 accounts. About $4 million was also invested that month in Manual, a London-based men’s health startup, and $10 million in June in biotechnology firm EdenRoc Sciences.
The Giulianis declined to comment. The brothers have a net worth of about $4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and are unrelated to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Germano and Giammaria’s great-grandfather invented a herb-based remedy in their native Italy about 130 years ago to aid digestion. In 1996, the family parlayed proceeds from their health-care business into Royalty Pharma, which buys pharmaceutical royalties from academic institutions and drugmakers and is now the brothers’ biggest listed asset. Royalty Pharma’s shares have risen 32% since its 2020 initial public offering, giving the Giulianis returns of at least 150% in the past five years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Germano, 49, and Giammaria, 43, also hold a stake worth about $415 million in Zug, Switzerland-based HBM Healthcare Investments AG and have bought shares of Alphabet Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Booking Holdings Inc. through Nogra funds, filings show. The firm also invested $3 million in cybersecurity firm Claroty in July.
Nogra has received more than $200 million in dividends in the past decade, according to Bloomberg’s wealth index.
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