Ernst von Freyberg

Family

Freyberg is the eldest of three sons of Ulrich von Freyberg-Eisenberg and Brita Gertrud Blohm. He is married and a member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Early life

He studied law at the universities of Munich and Bonn from 1978 to 1985 and at the German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer in 1986/87. He was admitted to the bar in Ulm in 1988.

Founding of Finance House von Freyberg

From 1988 to 1991, Freyberg worked as an analyst for TCR Europe Limited and Three Cities Research, Inc. In 1991, he co-founded finance house von Freyberg. In 1998, Close Brothers Corporate Finance Ltd, the corporate finance arm of Close Brothers, replaced finance house von Mellenthin with finance house von Freyberg as its German associate, purchasing 51%. In 2005, Close Brothers Corporate Finance began consolidating its European network and finance house Freyberg was renamed Freyberg Close Brothers. In 2010, Close Brothers Corporate Finance became loss-making and Close Brothers Group put it up for sale. It was purchased by the Japanese investment bank Daiwa Securities SMBC and is now called Daiwa Corporate Advisory GmbH. In 2012, Ernst von Freyberg was replaced as CEO by Stefan Jaecker.

Chairmanship and supervisory board activities

Since 2012, he has been chairman of the supervisory board of Blohm + Voss, and was/is member of other supervisory and advisory boards, e.g. of Malteser Deutschland GmbH, the Flossbach von Storch AG trust administration and the IT service provider Magirus AG.

Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR)

Ernst von Freyberg was appointed President of the Board of Superintendence of the Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR) by the Commission of Cardinals of the IOR on 15 February 2013 replacing Ettore Gotti Tedeschi. Freyberg was named ad interim Director of the IOR on 1 July 2013, following the resignations of Director Paolo Cipriani and Deputy Director Massimo Tulli On 30 November 2013, Rolando Marranci was appointed new General Director.

During his tenure at the IOR, von Freyberg has identified two particular tasks as critically important. Firstly, he wants to open up the Institute and make it more transparent. Secondly, he will investigate and, where necessary, eliminate any cases of money laundering and tax evasion. Von Freyberg has also espoused a “zero tolerance” approach when it comes to suspicious transactions.

In July 2014 it was announced that Freyberg had been replaced by Jean-Baptiste de Franssu.

Non-occupational activities

Ernst von Freyberg is Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. His voluntary work at the Order of Malta particularly focuses on accompanying pilgrimages to Lourdes and acting as honorary treasurer for the order's German association. In 2009, he also founded the Freyberg Stiftung. The foundation’s main goals lie in supporting teenagers through education.