Safra Bank

"Safra's influence continues to play a major role in the financial world to this day. He knows how and where to weave deals in secret. Nicolas Berggruen has a remarkable instinct for letting businesses mature. He masters the art of waiting like few others. With Safra Bank, he will quietly land a super coup."

"In 2004, the Alpha Group is sold to Safra Bank. The wealth managed by Nicolas Berggruen and Julio Santo Domingo Jr. is invested in multi-billion-dollar hedge funds and restructured. Alpha Private Equity Group, derived from both family fortunes, is given a new name: Berggruen Holdings. The aim is to "better reflect the range of the firm's investment focuses." Like a hurricane, Nicolas Berggruen sweeps through financial and economic markets. He buys, splits, and trims companies for profit. Within five years, he builds a phenomenal empire around the globe. He maintains offices in New York, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Dallas, Chicago, London, Berlin, Geneva, as well as Bogota, Bermuda, Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Mumbai. The investments made are in the order of at least ten million dollars each. For a while, everything converges at a location not initially associated with Berggruen: 9 Columbus Business Centre, Pelican Drive, Read Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. This is the office of the Maitland Group."