Maximilien de Hoop Cartier

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Early life
Cartier was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His mother, Sarah Cartier, is a direct descendant of the in France. His father, Daniel de Hoop, is a former member of the Royal Dutch House of Orange in the Netherlands. He then moved alone to Europe, where he studied hotel management and enology in Switzerland. Cartier received a Master’s Degree in Economics from University of Lausanne. He also graduated as a teacher with a Swiss Federal Diploma for Business and taught business to students from the University of Lausanne for several years.
After graduating from the Glion Institute of Higher Education in Switzerland in 1990, Cartier moved to London for two years. He worked in a small hotel in Paddington as an assistant to the general manager.
Career
Switzerland
On his return to Switzerland in 1992, Cartier focused all his efforts on the production and marketing of wines, cognac, champagnes and finally, premium beers. He began producing wines, champagne and cognac in the Bordeaux region of France. He registered his own brands worldwide and started using his registered Patagonia Brand to bring wines and premium beers from Argentina and Chile into Europe, including Quilmes, the market share leader in Argentina (76.4%).
Argentina
Cartier learned that lawmakers in Argentina were considering anti-monopoly legislation. He flew to Buenos Aires to assess the situation firsthand. Once there, he found that the National Government was requiring some industries to scale down production in order to minimize their market share.
After a negotiation that lasted almost a year, Cartier managed to take control over the industrial Brewery Cerveceria San Carlos (formerly Bieckert).
Cartier’s brewery produced beers under two major brands: Patagonia and Primitiva. These brands were regionally successful, and Cartier began exporting to countries such as Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Puerto Rico, USA, Canada, Korea, Japan, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Luciano Benetton suggested expanding Cartier’s production and export business to include premium bottled water under the Patagonia label. Cartier accepted the proposal. He traveled throughout the Patagonia region, both on the Argentine side as well as on the Chilean side, visiting every potential source of pure spring water. After a year of searching, he discovered a spring in Patagonia. Located in Andean glacial ice, the water is completely uncontaminated. The high mountain water source is one of the last millennial reservoirs away from pollution and untouched by human activity.
Cartier flew to Treviso, Italy, to present his findings to Benetton. They quickly started working on the logistics of placing a bottling plant directly at the water’s source. Three years passed before Cartier had obtained all the necessary permits and inspections for construction and operation of the plant. Today, the Patagonian bottling plant has a total annual production capacity of 120 million bottles.
Cartier traveled to the region to see if he could be of any assistance. Haradinaj explained that food and drinking water were in short supply. Eager to be of assistance, Cartier travel to nearby Greece, where he rented a warehouse in the harbor city of Thessaloniki. From there, he sent truckloads of food, water and basic supplies.
Personal life
Cartier is well known for being adventurous, and he has a passion for world travel and for sports. He is a professional skier and a licensed pilot. Cartier is fluent in French, Spanish, English, Italian and Portuguese. However, the experience left him unable to concentrate on daily business. Furthermore, his father Daniel de Hoop had been fighting advanced cancer for two years, and his days were numbered. Cartier boarded a flight to be next to his father and accompany him through his last days.
When his father passed away, Cartier left his business interests in the hands of his trustees, partners and close colleagues.<ref name="CSFT"/> He embarked on a year-long sabbatical, during which he traveled around the world, spending time in Venezuela, Brazil, the United States, Thailand, England, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Peru, Russia, Greece, Argentina and Uruguay.

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