Otto Happel

Otto Happel is a German billionaire businessman, the former owner and CEO of GEA Group.

  • Otto Happel, who studied engineering at RWTH Aachen, inherited his father’s dust-removal business and turned it into thermal engineering firm GEA.
  • In 1999, he sold his 50.1% GEA stake to Germany’s MG Technologies for around $775 million in cash and kept a 10% interest in the combined group.
  • In 2005 the company renamed itself GEA Group. Happel cashed out in 2006, selling his remaining stake to institutional investors for $700 million.
  • In 2015, he attended the World Economic Forum in his role as chairman of the Swiss private wealth management firm Luserve AG.

GEA Group Otto Happel