Horst Paulmann Kemna (born 22 March 1935) is a German-Chilean entrepreneur. He is founder, CEO and chairman of the Chilean holding company Cencosud, the largest retail chain in Chile and the third largest in Latin America. According to Forbes, his fortune is estimated at 3.1 billion dollars, which makes him the second richest man in Chile and number 369 in the world.
Early life
In 1946, Horst Paulmann and his family, consisting of his parents and seven siblings, emigrated from Germany after the end of World War II. They crossed the Alps towards Italy, continued on to Argentina in 1948, and finally to Chile in 1950.
At the age of 13, Paulmann worked as a telephone operator in Buenos Aires and later worked making wooden toys. His family settled in the city of Temuco in the south of Chile, and his father got a position as a franchisee at Club Alemán and at Club de La Unión. In 1952, Paulmann’s family bought a local restaurant called Las Brisas and they soon transformed it into a supermarket. Since then and after the death of his father, Horst and his brother Jürgen Paulmann built a series of supermarket chains, beginning with the first hypermarket, located on Av. Kennedy. It measured 4,000 square meters and would become the foundation of the holding company Cencosud.
He had three children with Helga Koepfer: Manfred, Peter and Heike.
Career
Cencosud was founded by Horst Paulmann on 10 November 1978 when he assumed the role of CEO and chairman. Cencosud employs more than 150,000 people in Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Peru, where it operates its supermarket chains (such as Jumbo, Santa Isabel, Disco, Vea, Gbarbosa, Prezunic, Bretas, Perini, Wong and Metro); department stores (such as París and Johnson’s); home improvement stores (such as Easy and Blaisten); commercial centers and credit stores (with over 4.3 million credit cards issued).
One of his projects is the complex Costanera Center, which includes the tallest tower in South America, measuring 300 meters, a six story mall, a hotel, and office towers.
In 2004, Cencosud began trading its shares on the Santiago Stock Exchange, and on the NYSE starting in 2011. The Paulmann family is the main shareholder of Cencosud. Manfred, Peter and Heike Paulmann Koepfer have represented Cencosud in its directory and are part of the agreement of the board of directors, which was formed for the succession of the president in the conduct of the company.
Horst Paulmann net worth: Horst Paulmann is a businessman who has a net worth of $5.6 billion dollars which makes him one of the richest people in Chile. Born in Germany, Horst Paulmann moved to Chile just after World War II. He went on to create a massive retail empire. He opened his first grocery store, Hipermercados Jumbo in the mid-70s. Since then, that first store has grown to over 600 supermarkets, spread out across Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Brazil. He subsequently launched Cencosud, a holdings company that controls his supermarket interests, as well as insurance groups, retail stores, malls, entertainment centers, and a travel agency. His family owns 63% of Cencosud, and his children are all members of the board. Cencosud is currently building the Costanera Center. When completed, the building will be the tallest in Santiago. He has recently run into trouble with the Chilean government for allegedly pretending to supply earthquake relief, and then selling the goods to the Chilean government instead of donating them.
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