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New developments in KUONI’s US growth strategy Happy Anniversary, Swiss-American The travel company Kuoni is Albert Kriemler, designer of the Swiss brand, celebrates 20 Chamber of Commerce continuing its growth strategy. As years at Chapter of February 1st, 2010 Kuoni has Kriemler celebrated a lofty milestone :view Summer acquired the American department of the Destination Manage- recently: 20 years at Bergdorf Goodman. re ment Division of the US concern TBA Global. This step will enable Ever since he travelled to New York in the company to increase its activities in the field of conference 1979 when he was 19, it was his dream to organization, incentives, events and meetings, said Kuoni. This 10 have his label Akris in Bergdorf’s. department will be integrated in Duoin Destination Management and managed by Allied TPro in the USA: His dogged pursuit of Dawn Mello, the retailer’s president at the Welcome to the New York Chapter! Business Matters time, eventually paid off. Two decades later, the brand continues http://www.kuoni.com Brix + Partners LLC METALOR TECHNOLOGIES of Neuchatel expands its American Business to be a winner for Bergdorf’s, garnering a whopping $1 million at a U.S. Steuerberatung trunk show just last year. The precious metal specialist Metalor Technologies Gerald Brix, Managing Partner takes over the American operations from the German & Sprüngli expansion course in the USA Akris was founded in 1922 by Alice Kriemler-Schoch; the word 59 Maiden Lane, 39th Floor company AMI Doduco. “Akris” was derived from the letters of Kriemler-Schoch’s name. New York, New York 10038 Americans love Lindor truffles [email protected] Metalor, with its head office in Neuchatel, took control of the French holding company Astorg Part- Although the worldwide choco- Since its early days, the world-renowned family enterprise created www.brixcpa.com ner last September. Its intention is to increase its market share in electric contacts. late market with a volume of a company culture that defined highest quality and style as their 100 billion Swiss Francs fell last most important values and this strategy has won them interna- AMI Doduco is owned by the US Group Technitrol. The production locations now taken over year for the first time in 10years, tional accolades. by Metalor are in the USA, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Altogether approximately 400 people are employed. CEO Ernst Tanner nevertheless looks back on a veritable Lindt The entire Akris collection is produced exclusively in & Sprüngli success story in the tough US market. In the past 5 Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen and Loewy, http://www.metalor.com in the company’s own production workshops in St. Gallen, Zurich years the company has doubled its turnover in North America to LLP and in the canton of Ticino. 2.5 billion francs. Lindt and Ghiradella were the two fastest grow- Ethan Kaufmann, Partner ing high-end brands. Approximately 40% of Akris sales are in North America. In ad- 7 Hanover Square acquires InSound Medical Inc. and adds a revolutionary new hearing New York, New York 10004-2756 system to its portfolio The Lindor truffles are extremely popular in America and the con- dition to Bergdorf Goodman, the brand can also be found in the [email protected] cern expects to sell over 1 billion units this year. North America, USA in Saks locations, and most Sonova Holding AG, the world’s leading provider of http://www.fragomen.com with a turnover of close to 27% is the biggest market for Lindt & recently, Nordstrom. hearing systems announced recently that it has acquired Sprüngli. http://www.akris.ch ownership of InSound Medical Inc., Newark / NJ. A perfect match: became global ambassa- InSound Medical developed the first extended wear hearing system, which is placed in dor for his favorite chocolate Lindt the ear canal and is totally invisible from outside. It is marketed under the Lyric brand. In support of its global marketing efforts, premium chocolate In addition, the Group also mentioned that it anticipates an organic sales growth of manufacturer Lindt & Sprüngli is now also partnering with Swiss Pryor Cashman LLP 17-18% and an EBITA margin of around 28% for the business year 2009/10 - barring tennis champion Roger Federer in a long term deal to serve as Colleen Caden, Lawer unforeseen events. the global brand ambassador for his favorite Lindt chocolate. 7 Time Square http://www.sonova.com New York, New York 10036-6569 Alongside the proven and successful communication concept [email protected] based on the universally popular Maîtres , the coop- www.pryorcashman.com eration with Roger Federer will be used as an additional commu- Switzerland Tourism & UBS explore Switzerland from its most beautiful side. nication instrument in Lindt’s global marketing initiatives. This new partnership is built around something extremely important to both UBS and Switzerland Tourism (ST): A firm commitment to a strong, multi-faceted Switzerland. Clients and employees of UBS will be able to benefit from attractive vacation and leisure-related offers. This cooperation builds on shared values: UBS and ST both have strong Swiss roots and a long tradition. Both have also set themselves very high standards. “When it comes to quality, we both see ourselves as reliable partners, whether for bank- ing clients or guests,” says Urs Eberhard, acting CEO of Switzerland Tourism. UBS will Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce also be a “Presenting Partner” for ST’s main summer and winter campaigns. Lukas New York Chapter About this Newsletter Gähwiler, CEO UBS Switzerland, is delighted about the new partnership: “It will open up a whole range of benefits for our clients and our staff, by allowing them to take advantage , Room 1800 We welcome your suggestions. If your organization or firm would like to reach our members and of special vacation and leisure-related offers, for example.” New York, NY 10110 has anything of interest, please feel free to submit it to us. 212 246-7789 phone Editor-in-chief: George J. Grubenmann Translation Expert: Carol Nold (-McKell) More information: 212 246-1366 fax [email protected] [email protected] http://www.ubs.com/2/g/ubs_ch/tourismus/ubs_entdecken_r.html http://www.myswitzerland.com/ [email protected] Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this newsletter is accurate, neither the editors nor the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce can accept any liability Design by Ops Divina or responsibility for errors, omissions resp. consequences resulting from the use of this publication. www.opsdivina.com This newsletter can also be downloaded from the SACC homepage: www.amcham.ch (Continued on page 6)

06 01 Editorial to thank you for your continued support and wish everyone a great summer. Navigating a leading global financial corporation through a financial crisis Dear Reader, Walter Kielholz shares insights from his recent experience Kind regards, Welcome to the Summer edition of Re:View. George Grubenmann According to many economists, a large The Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce and the Swiss Society of New York Member of the Board number of businesses are in far better shape jointly held an event on 14 April 2010 with keynote speaker Walter Kielholz, Chairman Swiss American Chamber of Commerce than they were a year ago. As the scale of the of Swiss Re. Mr. Kielholz spoke on the topic “Navigating a Leading Global Financial New York Chapter recent economic crisis abates, an increasing Corporation Through a Financial Crisis”. The presentation, held at Swiss Re’s mid- number of enterprises reports that they have town New York office, was followed by questions and answers and a cocktail recep- made great progress after realigning their busi- Upcoming Events tion. ness priorities. In addition, quite a few compa- June 9: nies have been able to achieve a turnaround to profitability in the 5 Reasons Why Change Efforts Fail Mr. Kielholz gave an eloquent and lively account of a financial company’s navi- meantime. As a reflection of these changing market conditions @ Residence of Ambassador Christoph Bubb gation through the recent financial crisis. He drew analogies from two very dif- where economic growth is finally rebounding, you can read about July 31: ferent subject areas: from his tenure with Credit Suisse, where he was Chairman some of these success stories arising from various industries. Swiss National Day Celebration from 2003 to 2009, and from sailing, which is a personal passion. These are companies that have stood the test of time. And they @ Zoo are doing particularly well right now. Why? In spite of the very challenging times and sparse resources recently, these enter- October 7: Mr. Kielholz explained that successful navigation of a boat depends on four factors: prises nevertheless managed to remain innovative and relevant to European Chambers of Commerce joint networking & their customers. Fall European Chambers Young Executives networking event • The first is knowledge of the boat: its design, strengths and weaknesses as well as @ TBA what can be done and what cannot be done with it. Furthermore, the demands and pressure of an unsettling and tough market environment last year did not discourage many October 21-22: • Second is the quality and expertise of the crew. Does everyone know their role in all cir- aspiring entrepreneurs from exploring innovative economic op- Second HSG Alumni USA Conference Walter B. Kielholz, Chairman of Swiss Re cumstances? Is the crew overconfident or does it jump ship when the sea gets rough? portunities such as starting one’s own restaurant business. “Veni, @ UBS, 1285 Avenue of the Americas • Third, can the crew judge the weather and does it know where the boat is relative to vidi, vici”, is what comes to my mind when I think of Jacqueline December 2: rocks and shallow water? Mansch, a bank director turned entrepreneur, who was up for the A view & assessment on US/Global economy • Fourth, do we know what others are doing? We are not alone - and competitors, gov- challenge on opening and running a restaurant successfully in @ Credit Suisse, Eleven Madison Avenue ernments, clients and the public influence the outcome of decisions. Antigua! Her story will also be the start of a new series dedicated to “Entrepreneurs at Large”. It is often times very difficult to judge where we are in a crisis or trend, and to determine On behalf of the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce, I want when the inflexion point is reached, Mr. Kielholz continued. An assessment in hindsight is easy; hence, while much of the commentary following the crisis has been accurate, it was not so obvious at the time. There were warning signs, but a delicate balance must be struck The View from Zurich in May 2010 between warnings and opportunities. It is particularly difficult to assess what the competi- tors, clients and governments are doing, which is often not what they claim or even intend to On January 21, 2010 the Swiss Federal treaty by the Swiss Parliament would be viewed by the USA do. (and by all other countries) as being motivated by the desire to Administrative Court (FAC) has ruled Members of the Swiss-American Chamber and that the Swiss-US treaty in causa UBS further protect tax delinquents, even at the cost of breaking a the Swiss Society attended the event at Swiss of August 2009 was not fully covered valid treaty. What the consequences of such behaviour will be, Re’s Midtown office in New York Mr. Kielholz noted that, during the financial crisis, government crisis management decisions by current Swiss laws. As most of you nobody knows for sure. Be it cannot be good! Fear of broad were made in very quick steps, almost on a weekly basis , which impacted trading and will recall, this treaty was negotiated retaliation by the US and other actions by Switzerland’s interna- management decisions during execution. As a result, the outcome of any decision became last August between the governments tional partners cannot be excluded. And Switzerland’s position quite unpredictable. Consequently, many companies made only one decision: to wait. At of Switzerland and the USA to find a in further negotiations with the EU will be weakened. the peak of the crisis in the fall of 2008, counterparty trust had completely eroded, and as a result liquidity vanished. solution for the entangled problem of squaring the rightful US Currently, political parties on the right and left play some ugly chase of tax delinquents and the equally rightful Swiss laws, political games, and ratification of the treaty is by no means especially the banking Secrecy laws protecting the privacy of secure. The Chamber will continue to fight for this important In the case of Credit Suisse, Mr. Kielholz explained, the bank was fortunate because it was individuals and the current Swiss-US double taxation treaty. issue, working closely with economiesuisse, concerned com- well capitalized. Just before the start of the crisis Credit Suisse had sold its Winterthur The result is a valid and binding treaty that Switzerland needs panies, like-minded organizations and the media to bring some insurance business and had enough cash at hand. However, a new CEO was appointed before the crisis, which could have posed a risk. Fortunately, the new CEO, Brady Dougan, to be fulfilled. On advice by the highest judge of the FAC, the much needed sanity into this question. is an investment banker who brought very relevant expertise to Credit Suisse and was able Swiss government has decided to submit the treaty for ratifica- For further information, please visit the Chamber website: to de-risk the balance sheet early on in the crisis. Also noteworthy is that – in contrast to tion by the Swiss parliament in June in order to correct the www.amcham.ch the management of other financial sector companies – Credit Suisse’s senior management default highlighted in the January decision of FAC. F.l.t.r.: Daniel Soller, Thomas Holzheu, Greg responded with calm and discipline. These factors, Mr. Kielholz concluded, helped Credit This ratification seems to be the only option open to the Swiss Schiffer and Robert Solitro Suisse tremendously in navigating the rough waters of the financial crisis. Martin Naville, government and a failure by the Swiss parliament to ratify the contract would open serious and dangerous construction sites Chief Executive Officer Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce – New York Chapter with such implications as further proceedings against UBS, Swiss American Chamber of Commerce Swiss Society of New York endangered ratification of the new double taxation treaty and possible further actions by the IRS against Swiss financial services companies. And much worse: A rejection of this valid

02 03 Robert Wolf, Chairman & CEO of U.S. Land Port of Entry in Calais, Project: Land Port of Entry UBS Group Americas, speaks about - a landmark created by Location: Calais, Maine Built Area: Enclosed Area: 74,002sf (6,875sm) the challenges still facing financial Robert Siegel Architects Canopy Area: 26,244sf (2,440sm) institutions and the broader Robert Siegel Architects is a New z 50 acres (20 Hectares) York City based architecture firm $53,000,000 economy and the climate of change dedicated to architectural innova- Cost: tion and creation of public buildings, Project Team: Robert Siegel, Richard Tobias, Eduardo in Washington. academic and cultural facilities, and commercial and residential Ramos, Brad Burns, Holly Williams, Robert Wolf, drawing on the experience interiors. The company is an award-winning, international archi- Justin Huang, Julien Leyssene, Kelsey and knowledge he has gained as a long- tecture firm with projects throughout the United States, , Yates, Fatmir Hodzic, Wayne Walker time participant in the financial markets , and Japan. Consultants: Ove Arup & Partners (Civil, MEP, Structural, and a trusted advisor to the Obama Robert Siegel Architects has completed a variety of building Security, Acoustics, Lighting, LEED), Sasa- Administration on economic matters, types, including major award-winning civic commissions such as ki Associates (Landscape Architects), Rolf appreciates that although the financial Jensen & Associates (Code & ADA), Pete & the U.S. Land Port of Entry in Calais, Maine, the Korean Embassy services industry has proven resilient Companry (Cost Estimating), Construction in , China and projects for Swiss companies including throughout the recent economic downturn, Specifications Inc (Specifications), Front the Swiss Center at , the First Class the challenges that it faces remain formi- (Building Envelope Consultants) and Business Class Lounge at JFK, and offices for Switzerland dable. In an environment of decreasing Tourism. Construction: J&J Contractors margins and intense competition for client loyalty, banks need to create a sustainable U.S. Land Port of Entry in Calais, Maine model for profitability that emphasizes prudent risk manage- ment. Using his organization as an example, Mr. Wolf feels that, The new United States Land Port of Entry in Calais, Maine is in addition to obligations to shareholders and clients, financial designed as part of the U.S. General Services Administration’s institutions should feel a commitment to society and community Design Excellence Program. This program selects America’s development. best designers and artists to create facilities that ultimately be- come respected landmarks. Mr. Wolf noted that the efforts toward recovery come at a time when there Robert Siegel Architects designed the facility with the intent is a full agenda in Washington. He to represent the aspirations of our time and so that history will sees a time of “historic restructur- remember our generation, while confronted by terrorism and ing” of the way in which the financial violence at home and abroad, as one which chose to make services industry will be regulated. Broad-based initiatives such buildings that embodied the enduring values of our democracy. as health care, green energy and the financial regulatory reform The border station building type presents an inherent contradic- proposals pending in Congress, along with more focused tion, and this project is no exception: the facility is welcoming but proposals such as the Obama Administration’s proposals to secure, open but closed, flexible but permanent. restrict bank size and impose a fee on certain banks to recoup the costs of government assistance, create a business environ- Surveillance, of course, is a key component of the design, and ment in which change is a near certainty. What is not certain the aluminum mesh building skin is designed to be transparent is what this change will mean for financial institutions, both from within the facility and translucent / opaque from outside. U.S.-based institutions and foreign institutions operating in the The subtle bending of the aluminum panels creates dynamic United States. For Mr. Wolf, the most difficult aspect of regula- conditions of shade and shadow and reflects hues of the sea- tory reform for financial institutions at the current moment is the sonal changes in the sky and landscape color. uncertainty about the details and the speed with which they will In designing the new facility the firm focused on making the most be worked out. efficient processing of commercial and non-commercial vehicles Mr. Wolf also offered us a fascinating perspective into his role as while providing a safe and secure border. The design concept is a member of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board formed a gateway to the United States, a visual “open door” that invites by President Obama. As a member of this bipartisan group freedom and security to be at peace with each other. comprised of experts from academia, industry and government http://www.robertsiegelarchitects.com/ U.S. Land Port of Entry in Calais photographs copyright Paul Warchol service, he sees himself as having a responsibility to give the President (whom he described as an amazing listener) indepen- dent advice to assist in developing policy to strengthen the U.S. economy and domestic and foreign markets. This group de- bates a wide range of issues relating to the economy, from the proper role of government in the markets to novel ideas such as a national infrastructure bank to finance major national projects. Adam J. Steinbauer Sullivan & Cromwell LLP New York

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