Peter Löw

Peter Löw was born in 1960 in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and went to school in Baden-Baden.^[1][2] From 1980 to 1985 he studied law at the University of Freiburg, passing the first state examination in 1985, and from 1982 also read history, continuing at the Technical University of Berlin until 1989.^[2] In 1985, he founded a publishing house in Baden-Baden together with Martin Vorderwülbecke, which he headed until 2006. From 1986 to 1990 he completed his legal clerkship, with placements at the German embassy in Rome as well as in Bordeaux and New York. In 1987, he started his doctoral studies in history at the University of Münster under the supervision of military historian Werner Hahlweg. After Hahlweg died, Löw found a new supervisor in Eckardt Opitz of Helmut Schmidt University, and in 1989 obtained a doctorate (Dr. phil.) for a dissertation on the Prussian army.^[3]

In 1991, he enrolled at Insead, where he received an MBA.^[4] In 1992, he submitted a dissertation on municipal law in Nazi Germany under the supervision of Franz-Ludwig Knemeyer at the University of Würzburg for which he received a legal doctorate (Dr. iur. utr.).^[5]

In 2012, Löw became a member of the senate of the college of philosophy and theology of the Philosophical-Theological University Heiligenkreuz. He became an honorary professor for philosophy of economics in 2013.^[6]

Löw is a reserve officer in the Bundeswehr with the rank of Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel).^[7] In 2014, he survived an airplane crash in Florida.^[1]

Löw was listed as one of the 500 richest Germans (ranked at no. 320) according to German Manager Magazin in 2020. He collects works of art and antiques.^[8]

In May 2022, Löw was appointed delegate for Germany of the Constantinian Order of Saint George.^[9] In 2023, he set up a foundation awarding scholarships for participants of the IESE Business School.^[10] In 2025, he supported a charity campaign in which a motorcycle was presented to Pope Leo XIV; its auction was intended to benefit an aid project of Missio Austria in Madagascar.^[11]

Löw is married to the country pop singer Clara Löw, who performs as Cat Lion.^[12][2] He is a father of eight children.^[2][13] He lives in Munich and at Hofhegnenberg Castle.^[1]

Löw worked as a consultant for McKinsey from 1991 to 1992.^[4] Since 1992, he claims to have acquired majority stakes or significant shares in more than 300 businesses.^[14]

In 1993, Löw set up the company Systemkopie and bought several office equipment dealers, selling the group in 1995.^[15] Between 1995 and 2001, he acquired medium-sized industrial companies through the company Certina, among them the glass plant engineering firm Horn and the valve manufacturer Pruss, and sold his shares in 2001.^[16] In 2002, he bought several telecommunications providers, including assets from EnBW, Telefónica and Completel,^[17] contributed his holdings to Versatel in 2003 and sold his stake in 2004.^[18] In 2003, he also acquired the publishing house Weltkunst from Axel Springer and sold it to Zeitverlag two years later.^[19]

Between 2002 and 2007, Löw was a member of the management board of Arques Industries, which he had co-founded with Dirk Markus.^[20] During his tenure as board member and principal shareholder, Arques bought and resold numerous companies, among them the rail technology group Schaltbau, the pram manufacturer Teutonia,^[4] the golf retailer Golfhouse,^[21] the camping supplier Fritz Berger^[22] and SKW Metallurgie.^[23] In 2005, the holding company acquired a number of printing businesses and combined them in Arquana International Print & Media, which was sold in 2006.^[24] Löw sold his shares in Arques in 2007 and left the company shortly afterwards.^[25]

In 2007, Löw founded a gold trading company, 24k Trading Partners, but ended the business a year later.^[26][27] From 2008 to 2013, he ran the investment company bluO, whose holdings included the clothing retailer Adler Modemärkte, the Austrian Woolworth stores, the car repair chain Pitstop and the gas supplier Goldgas.^[28][29][30]

In 2008, Arques had acquired Siemens' communications division, which subsequently traded as Gigaset Communications.^[31] In 2010, Löw again became a shareholder in Arques and was elected chairman of its supervisory board.^[32] After Gigaset had been taken over in full, an extraordinary general meeting in December 2010 resolved to rename Arques Industries as Gigaset; the change of name took effect in February 2011.^[31] Löw resigned from the post in 2013 after a new management board had been appointed and the company's capital increased.^[33] In January 2014, the German financial supervisory authority opened an investigation into Löw over voting rights notifications in connection with the sale of Gigaset shares. The investigation produced no result.^[34]

From 2010 to 2012, Löw was a co-owner of the German news agency dapd and from 2011 served as chairman of the supervisory board of its parent company, dapd media holding, which was renamed HQTA AG in October 2012.^[35] The agency's insolvency in October 2012 attracted broad media coverage.^{[36][37][38][27]} Löw took legal action against parts of the reporting on the insolvency without success, and subsequently brought a private prosecution against several Handelsblatt journalists for insult and defamation, which also failed.^[39][40]

In 2013, Löw founded Livia Group as a family office.^[41] Its holdings include the chemical manufacturer Alzchem,^[42] which was listed on the stock exchange in 2017^[43] and joined the SDAX in 2024.^[44]

From 2000 onwards, Löw acquired listed historic buildings in poor condition and had them restored. The projects are grouped under the name The European Heritage Project.^[29][2] According to Löw, the first property was a dilapidated farmhouse, followed by the Palais Sonnenhof in Starnberg.^[2] Wirtschaftswoche described the initiative in 2020 as "a kind of private Unesco" with 14 projects at the time, including buildings at Lake Starnberg, in Baden-Baden, in Venice and in the Austrian town of Lauffen.^[29] Löw employs a permanent restoration team that travels from site to site, and states that the properties are not intended to generate profit but are expected to largely sustain themselves in the medium term.^[2]

Since 2019/2020 the heritage projects have been consolidated in The European Heritage Project SE. The European company was founded in Munich in 2019 and entered in the commercial register of the Munich local court. In August 2020, the company transferred its registered office across the border to Vienna.^[45][46]

The projects include Hofhegnenberg Castle near Augsburg,^[29] Frankenberg Castle [de] in Franconia, acquired in stages from 2014,^[12] the former mining court ("Berggericht") in Kitzbühel,^[47] the Palazzo Tron and the Palazzo Belloni Battagia on the Grand Canal in Venice.^[48] Also part of the project are Brough Lodge on the Shetland island of Fetlar,^[49] a 17th-century wine estate in South Africa and a former convent in Italy.^[2] In Baden-Baden, the project owned twelve historic buildings as of 2026, among them the Grand Ducal government building ("Großherzogliches Amtshaus"), the former hotel Deutscher Hof and the Villa Kettenbrücke.^[50]

In the old town of Lauffen near Bad Ischl, the project acquired several historic salt traders' houses and restored the town centre.^[51] In December 2023 a nativity scene museum opened there.^[52] For the restoration of two of the Lauffen buildings, Löw and The European Heritage Project were awarded the Austrian Monument Protection Medal 2023 by the Austrian Federal Monuments Office.^[53]

More recent acquisitions include the Palazzo Nari in Rome near the Pantheon,^[11] the Palais Seinsheim [de] in Munich, a rococo town palace where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart once played, acquired in 2025,^[51][2] Hugstetten Castle near Freiburg, bought in 2025 through a bidding process,^[54][55] and the former hotel Bayerischer Hof in Starnberg, a listed building of 1864/65 that had stood empty since 2018. The town of Starnberg sold it in December 2025 for a symbolic price of about 100,000 euros, with a contractual obligation to complete a restoration, estimated at around 15 million euros, within five years and to reinstate a restaurant on the ground floor.^[56][57][58]

The restored buildings are used in different ways, including as residential and commercial buildings, for restaurants and hotels, and as event venues. According to Löw, one aim is to make the properties at least partly accessible to the public, and a foundation is planned to bring cultural events into them.^[2][12]

• 2001: Bundeswehr Cross of Honour in Gold
• Commander's Cross (2004) and Grand Cross (2011) of the papal Order of St. Sylvester
• Commander's Cross (2007) and Knight Grand Cross (2019) of the Constantinian Order of Saint George
• 2013: Grand Cross of the Order pro Merito Melitensi of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
• 2017: Refugee Medal of the Order of Malta
• 2021: Commander's Cross with Star of the Royal Order of Francis I
• 2023: Austrian Monument Protection Medal, awarded to Löw and The European Heritage Project by the Austrian Federal Monuments Office^[53]
• 2025: Silver Decoration of Merit of the State of Upper Austria, presented by Governor Thomas Stelzer^[51]
• 2026: Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, presented by the Austrian Consul General in Munich for services to the preservation of cultural heritage in Austria^[65]

• Der preussische Unteroffizier im stehenden Heer des Absolutismus bis 1806. Am Beispiel der Infanteriekompanie. Hartung-Gorre, Constance 1989, ISBN 3-89191-317-6.
• Formularsammlung für die Berliner Rechtspraxis. Löw and Vorderwülbecke, Baden-Baden 1990, ISBN 3-928017-75-6.
• X 1, 6, 14 "Electio debet esse in libertate eligentium". Löw and Vorderwülbecke, Baden-Baden 1992, ISBN 3-928017-61-6.
• Kommunalgesetzgebung im NS-Staat: am Beispiel der Deutschen Gemeindeordnung 1935. Löw and Vorderwülbecke, Baden-Baden 1992, ISBN 3-928017-64-0.
• Theologie und Wirtschaft. J. P. Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2017, ISBN 978-3-7616-3276-5.
• Väter in den Augen ihrer Söhne: Lebensbilder der Familienväter Löw über vier Generationen 1870 bis 2016. J. P. Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2018, ISBN 978-3-7616-3277-2.
• Der Freund: eine Nachmittagsnovelle. Osburg Verlag, Hamburg 2020, ISBN 978-3-95510-246-3.
• Flusenflug. Bekenntnisse eines Firmenjägers. Osburg Verlag, Hamburg 2020, 2nd edition 2024, ISBN 978-3-95510-233-3.
• Fluffs. Confessions of a Corporate Raider. Osburg Verlag, Hamburg 2022, ISBN 978-3-95510-298-2.
• Jungenhaft: von einem, der auszog, das Fürchten zu lernen. Osburg Verlag, Hamburg 2021, 2nd edition 2026, ISBN 978-3-95510-261-6.
• Boyish. The Tale of a Young Man Who Set Out to Learn the Meaning of Fear. Osburg Verlag, Hamburg 2022, ISBN 978-3-95510-299-9.
• Das eine Evangelium – Evangelienharmonie. Auf der Grundlage der Evangelienharmonie des Tatian (ed.). Verlag Herder, Freiburg 2024, ISBN 978-3-451-38555-1.
• Die Wolke – Eine Vormittagsnovelle. Osburg Verlag, Hamburg 2024, ISBN 978-3-95510-361-3.
• Jesus von Nazareth – Das eine Evangelium. Verlag Herder, Freiburg 2025, 3rd edition 2026, ISBN 978-3-451-02955-4.