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Aurèus
Klaus Risch runs the Hilti family's multi-family office, Aurèus, overseeing a portfolio diversified across public markets, private equity, and real assets.
Aurèus
Aurèus was founded in 2009 through the merger of independent Dutch wealth managers Boer & Olij Securities and Attent Vermogensbeheer. Its capital base stems from the partners' entrepreneurial track record in securities brokerage and asset management. The core family served is the Hilti family, whose wealth originates from the power-tools and construction-systems group founded by Martin Hilti in 1941. Family governance flows through the Martin Hilti Family Trust, which is stewarded by a board of family and non-family trustees including Pius Baschera and Christoph Loos. The firm allocates across a diversified mix of public-market securities, private equity, real assets, and fund-of-funds vehicles. Investment-stage coverage spans early-stage venture through late-stage expansion, growth equity, mezzanine, and secondaries, with a particular emphasis on co-investment opportunities in the healthcare-services and biotech sectors. Geographic mandates are confirmed in North America, while the office's core European base shapes its sourcing and manager-selection lens. Deal-flow preferences lean toward fund-of-funds structures seeded by relationships cultivated through the trustees' overlapping networks. The Amsterdam-headquartered office operates as part of a broader private-wealth architecture that includes Aurèus Service AG, led by CEO Klaus Risch, and the Hilti Foundation, the family's primary philanthropic vehicle. Although precise team headcounts remain undisclosed, the family office's governance integrates operating-company executives directly into its trust board—Christoph Loos, Hilti Group's CEO, serves as a trustee, while Pius Baschera, a former Hilti Group CEO and current LGT Group board member, links the office to Liechtenstein's princely banking dynasty. No recent operational events were publicly disclosed in the past 24 months. The office's structural differentiator lies in its layered governance design—outsourcing trust stewardship to both family principals and independent Swiss legal professionals, such as Tis Prager of Prager Dreifuss AG, while embedding the management of the primary operating asset directly inside the trust board. That architecture separates generational wealth oversight from day-to-day investment and philanthropic decision-making, a configuration rarer among continental European multi-family offices than in their Anglo-Saxon counterparts.
General information
Firm type
Multi Family Office
Year founded
2009
AUM
$5B (Altss estimate)
Location
Region
Europe
Country
Netherlands
City
Amsterdam
Corporate office
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Principals
Pius Baschera
Trustee and Speaker of the Martin Hilti Family Trust
Marco Hilti
Family Principal & Governance
Michèle Hilti
Family Principal & Governance
Michael Hilti
Family Patriarch / Honorary Chairman
Christoph Loos
Trustee and CEO of Hilti Group
Tis Prager
Trustee of the Martin Hilti Family Trust
Klaus Risch
CEO of Aureus Service AG
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
How is Aurèus related to the Hilti family?
Aurèus serves as the primary multi-family office for the Hilti family, whose wealth was created through the construction-equipment group Hilti Corporation, founded in 1941. The family's governance is organized around the Martin Hilti Family Trust, which directly holds the operating company and oversees the office. Trustees include family members Marco and Michael Hilti, as well as current Hilti Group CEO Christoph Loos.
What is the role of the Martin Hilti Family Trust?
The trust acts as the central holding and governance vehicle for the Hilti family's assets. Its trustees—a mix of family principals and independent non-family members such as Pius Baschera and Tis Prager—steward the family's primary operating asset, Hilti Group, and coordinate with the family office on broader wealth-management strategy. This structure formally separates ownership oversight from operational and investment execution.
Does Aurèus invest directly or primarily through funds?
The office's primary investment mode is fund-of-funds, supplemented by direct co-investments in private equity and venture capital. Documented allocations target healthcare services and biotech, with stage coverage ranging from seed to growth and mezzanine. The fund-of-funds preference aligns with the office's governance model, which emphasizes manager selection and relationship-led sourcing over direct deal origination.
How does Aurèus's governance differ from a standard single-family office?
Unlike a single-family office where investment decisions often rest with a family-appointed CIO, Aurèus's architecture embeds independent Swiss legal and corporate trustees directly into the family's trust board. The Hilti Group CEO sits as a trustee, and the trust's speaker, Pius Baschera, holds simultaneous directorships at LGT Group, linking the office's governance to external private-banking networks. This creates a hybrid oversight model that blends family, operating-company, and outside fiduciary perspectives.
What philanthropic structures are tied to Aurèus?
The Hilti Foundation is the family's dedicated philanthropic entity, funding projects in social development, music, and the arts, including the Hilti Art Foundation in Vaduz. The foundation operates alongside but separately from the investment office, with its own board of trustees that includes family members Michael, Marco, and Michèle Hilti. The family also supports the Hilti Chair for Business and Human Rights and the Hilti-IMD Chair for Business and Society.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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