Heister controls half of Aldi Sued, part of the German food retail chain. The Muelheim an der Ruhr-based company operates more than 7,200 stores and had revenue of ?84.9 billion ($89.5 billion) in revenue in 2022. Heister's father started the business with his brother Theo, from whom he split the group in 1960.
Heister's fortune is derived from her half stake in Aldi Sued, part of the German food retail chain. Aldi Sued had revenue of ?84.9 billion ($89.5 billion) in 2022, according to retail consultants Edge by Ascential Retail Insight.
Heister controls Aldi Sued with her brother, Karl Jr., and her husband and oldest son, through Eichenau, Germany-based Siepmann trust, according to an interview with her late father Karl Albrecht in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper in 2014.
The valuation of Aldi Sued is based on the average enterprise value-to-sales multiple of two publicly traded peer companies: Carrefour SA and J Sainsbury PLC.
Johanna Krautwald, a spokesperson for Aldi Sued, declined to comment on the net worth calculation.
Heister's father, Karl Albrecht, was born in Essen, Germany, in 1920, to Karl Albrecht Sr., a miner, and Anna Albrecht, who owned and ran a supermarket. Her father served in the German Wehrmacht during WWII and was wounded on the Russian front. He returned to Essen in 1946 with his younger brother Theo to take over their mother's grocery. By 1953, the brothers had expanded to about 30 discount supermarkets under the name Albrechts.
The company's name was changed in the early 1960s to Aldi, short for Albrecht Discount. The brothers subsequently split Aldi into two separate companies: Aldi Sued and Aldi Nord. Theo took the northern part of West Germany, plus western and southern Europe. Karl owned and operated the stores in southern and southwest Germany, the US, UK, Australia and Eastern Europe.
Aldi Sued's retail expansion outside Germany started with the opening of a store in Austria in 1968. The first US store opened in 1976, followed by the UK in 1989, and Australia in 2001.
Karl Albrecht stepped down as Aldi Sued CEO in 1994, and as chairman in 2002. He shunned public life after Theo was kidnapped and released in 1971. Theo died in July 2010, at age 88. Karl divided his time between Essen and his villa in Germany's Black Forest before his death in July 2014. He was married with two children, Karl Jr. and Beate, and six grandchildren.
Karl Jr. and Beate each received half of their father's fortune, and serve on Aldi Sued's supervisory board. Beate is married with six children. Karl Jr. is childless.