The superrich have often faced an age-old dilemma in handling their eye-watering fortunes. Do they invest in the stock market? Buy up property? Pick up a philanthropy habit? Or simply go on a spending spree? The ex-wife of F1 mogul Bernie Ecclestone has faced that same dilemma for some years since landing her $881 million divorce settlement.
Now, her plans are starting to become clear.
Slavica Malic, the ex-wife of 93-year-old billionaire Ecclestone, has set up a family office to manage her multi-million dollar fortune in the wake of her divorce from the former CEO of Formula One in 2009, Bloomberg first reported.
It is expected that Malic, who divorced Ecclestone on the grounds of “unreasonable behavior,” will use the office to invest her nine-figure fortune.
Companies House filings reviewed by Fortune confirm that Malic set up a company called Elm Cove in August last year.
To run her office, Malic has enlisted the help of London-based trust manager Stefan Le Marquand, filings show. She has also hired former HSBC managing director Fredrik Nerbrand as the office’s chief investment officer, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter.
Nerbrand’s LinkedIn profile says he is currently operating as chief investment officer for a single family office. His tasks include setting up a new operating model for the office and investing “in all asset classes but with a focus on wealth preservation.”
Representatives for Malic didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ex-wife millionaires club
Malic joins a long list of the ex-wives of billionaires who have been given the opportunity to build their own legacies in the wake of a divorce settlement.
They have taken different routes in their journeys with their newfound independent fortunes.
MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, came into an approximately $36 billion fortune after receiving 25% of Amazon’s shares in her divorce settlement with the former CEO.
She has very publicly focused her efforts on philanthropy, claiming to have donated $17.3 billion to more than 2,300 nonprofits since 2019.
Melinda French Gates, the ex-wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has poured billions in philanthropic causes through the $63 billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which she continued to co-run after her divorce in 2021.
Earlier this week, Gates announced she would be stepping away from the organization. As part of the exit agreement, Gates will take with her a $12.5 billion pot to commit to her work “on behalf of women and families.”
Based on Malic’s chief investment officer’s goals for the fund, it seems philanthropy won’t be her first priority, though she does appear to have a philanthropic trust titled the Slavica Malic Foundation, founded in 2023.
Instead, she will likely add her name to a growing pot of massive female-led investment funds looking to grow their wealth, including Oprah Winfrey who similarly started a family office in 2010.
Malic will make up a rising tide of these female investors, who are expected to control $30 trillion in the financial assets of baby boomers by the end of the decade, according to McKinsey.
Bernie’s billions
Malic’s ex-husband Ecclestone had effective control of the worldwide racing franchise Formula One after buying the rights to the group in the 1970s, maintaining a chokehold on the group’s operations as CEO even after selling most of his stake in the 1990s.
The company was sold to Liberty Media in 2017 for $8 billion, landing him a sizeable fortune. The nonagenarian currently has a net worth of around $2.4 billion, according to Forbes.
However, that fortune has taken a sharp haircut after a run-in with U.K. authorities last year.
In October, Ecclestone was forced to cough up £652 million ($793 million) after admitting to defrauding the U.K.’s HMRC, ending a decades-long dispute with the tax body.
The financial details of his divorce from Malic were laid bare as part of that gruesome investigation.
