Max-Herve George

George has been a speaker at the Paris Fintech Forum and the World Economic Forum (WEF). WEF is a business league that most notably organizes annual meetings of international business and political leaders in Davos, Switzerland. ²

Icona Capital, alongside real estate investment group Stoneweg, announced in March 2025 that it would operate under the SWI Group, which was created via the merger in 2025. George became the co-CEO and co-Chair for the SWI Group, which has headquarters based in London as well as Geneva and Luxembourg as of 2025. The group also has offices in Singapore, Zurich, and Madrid. As part of the SWI Group, Icona Capital manages and co-manages over €10 billion (approximately $11.7 billion) in assets. ^{1 2 3} The SWI Group itself has combined assets under management of over €11 billion (approximately $12.9 billion). ²

Business Career

Max-Herve George is a French entrepreneur and the CEO of Icona Capital, a London-based investment company. George is also the co-CEO and co-chairman of SWI Group, an investment company based in Geneva, Switzerland. ¹

George, who resides in London as of 2025, studied law at the Universite Paris Nanterre, before dropping out after two years. George later co-founded Ultima Capital, a luxury hospitality company, in 2012 with his childhood friend, Byron Baciocchi. He remained affiliated with the company until December 2023. According to a consolidated audit of the company, Ultima Capital had a net profit of CHF 88.1 million (approximately $110,979,305) in 2020. According to Forbes in 2019, George’s Ultima Collection and Duchessa brands, as well as others, were worth approximately CHF 700 million (around $882 million). ^{4 5 6 7}

George co-founded Icona Capital and became its CEO in 2019, a position he holds as of September 2025. Icona Capital is a global investment company and is headquartered in London as well as Luxembourg and Singapore. Icona Capital, alongside real estate investment group Stoneweg, announced in March 2025 that it would operate under the SWI Group, an investment consortium founded via the merger in 2025 that has headquarters in London, Geneva, and Luxembourg. The group also has offices in Singapore, Zurich, and Madrid. As part of the SWI Group, Icona Capital manages and co-manages over €10 billion (approximately $11.7 billion) in assets. ^{1 2 3}

George is also the chairman and co-CEO of the SWI Group, which focuses on digital infrastructure, real estate, and private credit. The company has combined assets under management of over €11 billion (approximately $12.9 billion). ²

SWI Group bought Cromwell Property Group’s European fund management platform for more than $300 million. A 27.9 percent stake in Cromwell European REIT, a real estate investment trust associated with the Cromwell Property Group, was also a part of the deal, which added just over $4 billion in real estate assets to SWI Group. The Cromwell European REIT was renamed to the Stoneweg European REIT in 2025. ^{8 9}

Aviva Lawsuit

Max-Herve George received a life insurance contract via his father when he was seven years old. The “Fixed Price Abitrage Life Insurance Contract,” created by L’Abeille Vie, which was later taken over by the insurance company Aviva France, allowed George to invest in upward movements in markets a week after they happened. An example George gave, according to The Independent, referred to a five percent increase in “the Asian markets,” and George was able to “instruct Aviva to move my money into Asia at the prices which applied before the markets rose.” ^{10 11}

Aviva France refused to honor the terms of the contract, leading to a series of legal battles against Aviva France of which George and his family won over 30 as of April 2015. This includes a verdict from the highest French appeal court, the Cour de Cassation, which ruled in George’s favor. ¹⁰

Aviva was ordered to credit George’s investment account with €1.4m (approximately $1.6 million), as well as another €9.6 million (around $11.3 million) to his family. Eventually, Aviva sold its French arm of the company to another insurance company, Aema Groupe, for €3.2 billion (approximately $3.7 billion) in February 2021. ^{10 12}

According to The Times in an article published in 2015, George’s contract could have been worth €1.2 billion (approximately $1.4 billion) by 2020, and possibly as much as €230 billion (around $270 billion) by 2030. ¹³

SWI Group Investments

Max-Herve George’s SWI Group, as of September 2025, aims to invest in artificial intelligence and data centers across Europe. SWI Group bought planning rights to build one of the largest data centers in the United Kingdom. The company aims to invest £3 billion (approximately $4 billion) in the data center. ¹⁴

According to George, SWI Group has been “unstinting and steadfast” to create “Europe’s most valuable data center groups.” SWI Group had a total of four data centers under its AiOnX brand as of June 2025 in Italy, Ireland, Spain, and Denmark. The group is also proposing a fifth data center be developed in England. ¹⁴

Nonprofit Work

George is a partner of the International Judo Federation and was present at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. While attending the Olympic Games, George met French President Emmanuel Macron and was pictured sitting with him during an Olympic event. ^{2 15}

He is a speaker at the Paris Fintech Forum, as well as a speaker at the World Economic Forum, a business league that primarily organizes annual meetings of international business and political leaders in Davos, Switzerland. ²