Marc Coucke (born 27 January 1965) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

businessman, multimillionaire and media figure. Founder of former

BEL20 The BEL 20 is the benchmark stock market index of Euronext Brussels. It tracks the performance of 20 most capitalized and liquid stocks traded in Belgium. In general, the index consists of a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 companies traded ...

pharmaceutical company

Omega Pharma Omega Pharma was a Belgian-based pharmaceutical company which was acquired in 2014 by Perrigo Company plc, an Irish/U.S.-based global pharmaceutical public company. The company was founded in 1987 and was based in the Industrial area 'de Prijkels' ...

, he has spread his business interests across several sectors including art, through his company Kamacoucka, and sports, through the co-ownership and sponsorship of the

UCI ProTeam UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public university in Irvine, California, United States * Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling UCI may also refer to: * Uganda Cancer In ...

cycling team, sponsorship of French Ligue 1 side

Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional football club based in Lille, Hauts-de-France that competes in Ligue 1, the top flight of French football. Lille has played its ...

and as major share holder of Belgian Pro League team

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

Education

Marc Coucke studied at St Barbara College in Ghent before attending the

University of Ghent Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the ...

(

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

) where he studied

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

. Later he obtained a Master in General Management from the

Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School Vlerick Business School ("Vlerick") is a Belgian business school with campuses in Ghent, Leuven and Brussels. It is a result of a merger of the MBA programmes of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and of the ''Instituut Professor Vlerick voor Ma ...

Biography

In 1987, he co-founded

with Yvan Vindevogel. This Belgian pharmaceuticals company grew rapidly and in 2006 employed three thousand people whilst operating in thirty countries. He remained

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Omega Pharma until 30 September 2006, returning to the post in March 2008. Whilst his business profile represents considerable achievement there have been highly publicised failures that include the launch of Omega Pharma's E-Waves phone Chip in 2008. It was withdrawn shortly after release as it did not work. In August 2021 investment fund Waterland, one of the businesses of Coucke, was convicted to pay €266 million to pharmaceuticals company Perrigo in a dispute over the takeover of Omega Pharma. After selling Omega Pharma Coucke has become a major investor in mostly Belgian businesses with his investment company Alychlo across several sectors like real estate, construction, pharma, technology, food industry and entertainment. Most eye-catching was becoming the major shareholder and chairman of Belgian football club

RSC Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer ...

in January 2018 while he already did this before with

KV Oostende Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende () or KVO, is a Belgian football club from the city of Ostend, West Flanders in Belgium. The team was founded in 1904 as ''VG Oostende'' and has the matricule No. 31. History In 1911, a ...

in 2013. In 2007, he was featured as a member of the jury in the television show De bedenkers.

Personal

Marc Coucke is married and has two daughters. He lives in the newly renovated eighteenth century Castle Mijl Eke near

Merelbeke Merelbeke () is a municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders, in Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by ...

in east

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

References

External links

Official Twitter AccountAlychlo investment company
Flemish businesspeople Ghent University alumni 1965 births Living people Belgian chief executives 20th-century Belgian businesspeople 21st-century Belgian businesspeople Vlerick Business School alumni Belgian billionaires {{Belgium-business-bio-stub