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Former Novartis chief moved to Monaco: report

The Local
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Former Novartis chief moved to Monaco: report
Daniel Vasella. Photo: AFP/File

The controversial former chairman and CEO of Novartis has moved to the tax haven Monaco, where he has purchased a luxury duplex apartment valued at around €24 million, a Swiss weekly says.

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Daniel Vasella, 61, resigned in early 2013 from the Basel-based pharmaceutical giant amid an outcry over a 75-million-franc severance package — later cancelled — in return for a promise not to work for a competitor for six years.

It was later reported that Vasella, upset about the treatment he was getting from Swiss media and politicians, moved to the United States but SonntagsZeitung reported online that the multi-millionaire had instead quietly relocated to Monaco.

In the Meditterranean principality, free of tax on income and wealth, Vasella acquired a 268-square-metre with a pool on the terrace and wine cellar in a 22-storey building, the newspaper said.

The apartment enjoys a view of Monaco’s old town, the palace of Prince Albert II and the sea, according to the report.

It is located in a luxury building with a spa, indoor pool, gym, sauna and steam room.

SonntagsZeitung computed the value of the apartment based on property prices in Monaco, quoted by real estate agent Savills, of €91,000 per square metre.

It noted that the cost would be no problem for Vasella, who walked away from Novartis with a share package worth 220 million francs, in addition to options worth 105 million francs.

Since 2013, the native of Fribourg has also been receiving 250,000 francs a year from Novartis for advisory services, a sum he will continue to get until the end of 2016, regardless of whether he actually provides any services, SonntagsZeitung said.

Four years ago Vasella transferred ownership of his 700-square-metre villa in Risch in the canton of Zug to his three daughters to ward off a threatened inheritance tax initiative.

The lakefront property is next to four parcels of land formerly owned by a Novartis subsidiary that has passed into Vasella’s possession.

He acquired the land after a dispute in which he and Novartis could not agree on the price, a disagreement that was settled by the Zug cantonal court, SonntagsZeitung reported.

Neither Novartis nor Vasella have revealed the price but reports have put it between 30 million and 40 million francs.

Vasella has not revealed what he plans to do with the property.
  

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