Peter Kohl

Peter Kohl (born 28 August 1965) is a German businessman and author, who resides in Switzerland. He is the younger son of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Hannelore Kohl, and brother of Walter Kohl. He grew up at the family home in Ludwigshafen-Oggersheim. Kohl attended the Waldorf school in Ludwigshafen and the Liselotte – Gymnasium (secondary school) across the river in Mannheim. He was also schooled in the UK and at the Jesuit Lycée la Providence in Amiens, France. He is a reserve officer and served for two years in the Paratrooper Battalion 263 (Bundeswehr), now Paratrooper Regiment 26. He holds a B.S. in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a master’s degree in economics from the University of Vienna. After working for 8 years as an investment banker at Credit Suisse London, and in corporate finance and capital markets at Salomon Brothers, he co-founded an independent corporate finance advisory and fund management firm. While taking a one year sabbatical in 2003, he studied Biotechnology whilst reading for a Master of Bioscience Enterprise programme at the University of Cambridge. While at Cambridge, he co-founded, grew and later successfully exited a biotech company. He has lived in London for 17 years. His interests include new start-up ventures, technology and fixed income opportunities and has run equity and fund-of-hedge funds. He is an aviation enthusiast and has been a PPL, multi-engine, IFR-rated pilot. In May 2001, he married his long-time girlfriend, the Turkish-born banker Elif Sözen, whom he had met in Boston whilst both were undergraduates at MIT. She is the daughter of an industrialist from Istanbul, Dr. Kemal Sözen, the head of the metal company Kale Kalip Makina Sanayii. Kohl’s wife formerly worked with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan in London. At the time of their marriage, they...