Residence: Lugano, Switzerland

Owners of the private company, Perfetti Van Melle, the world’s third largest confectionery manufacturer. Their family began making a fortune by producing chewing gum in Italy, which the American soldiers brought overseas during World War II. The company began in 1946 in a small town near Milan thorugh their father, Ambrogio, and uncle, Egidio. They started selling the Brooklyn gum, which is named after the Allied troops in the mid-1950s. The company has grown ever since and the product is still popular these days.

In 2001, it acquired Netherlands-based Van Mell. It became the candy and gum giant that sold $2.9 billion worth of sweets in 2013. It now has 19,000 employees in more than 39 countries around the world. Among their top-selling brands include Mentos, Airheads and Spain’s Chupa-Chups, which they acquired in 2006. The Perfetti brothers, who are media-shy, now live in Switzerland and they no longer run the business.

Augusto Perfetti’s yacht Air was named after their successful Italian brand name Air Action chewing gum. In 2005 Augusto Perfetti had ordered a 90 meter Lurssen yacht also named Air, but during construction he received an offer from Suleiman Kerimov he could not refuse. He sold the Lurssen to Kerimov who named his yacht Ice. Perfetti’s current Air by Feadship was delivered in 2011. Augusto’s brother Giorgo owns a large sailing yacht.

Click photo  or here to read about the Ferrari collection from Perfetti