From Baar to the Oval Office Billionaire and string-puller - that's Alfred Gantner
Entrepreneur Alfred Gantner is fighting against US tariffs and closer ties with the EU at the same time. Who is this man with a dual agenda?
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- Alfred Gantner, co-founder of the Parnters Group, was part of Team Switzerland, which negotiated the tariff deal with US President Trump.
- The billionaire is also politically active in other ways: as a leading figure in the fight against the EU framework agreement.
- Gantner and his fellow campaigners are involved in domestic politics with the Compass Initiative.
Hardly a day goes by without Alfred Gantner generating headlines. The billionaire and co-founder of the Parnters Group was part of Team Switzerland, the group of CEOs who recently persuaded US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office to reduce the punitive tariffs from 39% to 15%.
The gifts - a Rolex and a gold bar - that were presented to Trump at the meeting were criticized in particular. The Office of the Attorney General has since received three criminal complaints in this connection. The Greens and the Young Socialists believe that an article of the Swiss Criminal Code relating to the "bribery of foreign public officials" has been violated.
Back in August, Team Switzerland visited Washington together with President of the Swiss Confederation Karin Keller-Sutter and Minister of Economic Affairs Guy Parmelin. Also at the forefront back then: Partners Group co-founders Marcel Erni and Alfred Gantner.
Enemy of the EU framework agreement
Partners Group is a private equity giant and has been included in the Swiss Market Index (SMI) since September 2020. This makes it one of the 20 most valuable Swiss companies whose shares are traded on the stock exchange. "Bilanz" estimates the cumulative assets of Gantner, Erni and the third co-founder Urs Wietlisbach at CHF 8 to 9 billion.
With their company, the trio manages over 170 billion dollars worldwide. Since last year at the latest, the three business leaders have also been well known in the Swiss parliament: In November, they launched the "Compass/Europe" initiative with much fanfare and tinsel.
The popular initiative demands, among other things, that the majority of the cantons should apply to international treaties in addition to the popular majority. A direct attack on the framework agreement with the EU: if this is subject to a mandatory referendum and therefore has to achieve both a popular and a cantons' majority, it would most likely fail due to the conservative small cantons.
The initiative is supported by representatives of Swiss companies. Members of parliament from the FDP and SVP as well as prominent personalities such as skiing legend Bernhard Russi and ex-SRF presenter Kurt Aeschbacher are also involved.
The dazzling leader
At the media conference at the end of April, only one of the Partners Group trio - together with other members of the initiative committee - sits in front of the media: Alfred Gantner, usually called Fredy.
This is hardly a coincidence: Fredy Gantner is the most colorful figure of the three founders.
The 57-year-old repeatedly warns against a "creeping adaptation" to the EU and criticizes that Switzerland would otherwise be caught up in a dynamic in which it would constantly have to adopt new legal acts from Brussels.
He is practically following in the footsteps of SVP doyen Christoph Blocher - also a billionaire - who has shaped the fight against Swiss rapprochement with the EU in recent decades.
His denomination is also regularly mentioned in media reports: at the age of 23, Gantner joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is based on the Bible and the Book of Mormon. However, Gantner does not want to be called a Mormon: "If you call me a Mormon, that's discriminatory," Gantner told the "Republik" four years ago. "We are Christians and members of the Church of Jesus Christ."
And when Gantner had his villa built directly on Lake Lucerne in Meggen LU, the media readily reported on it. The construction on the 35,000-square-metre property is said to have cost 160 million francs, including the purchase of the land.
The Swiss Elon Musk?
The Kompass initiative is causing a major stir in Bern - the financial resources available to the people behind the project are too great. It was not without reason that last year's National Council President Eric Nussbaumer (SP), an avowed pro-European, used his farewell speech to warn against the initiative.
And it was not without reason that political scientist Michael Hermann mentioned the names of the three Partners Group founders when he was looking for the Swiss Elon Musk in a column in the NZZ am Sonntag at the end of 2024.
Fredy Gantner has the means and the connections to make a big impact at a political level. Together with his two business partners, he wants to shake up Swiss European politics from his 21,000 square meter company headquarters in Baar ZG.
Alfred Gantner has already proven his influence, at least in relations with another important partner of Switzerland, the USA.
Transparency note: This article previously appeared on blue News on 26.08.2025 and has now been updated to reflect current events.
