Bernard Arnault leaves Arnaud Lagardère’s holding company – OZAP

He regains his freedom. Last night, Lagardère Capital (LC) announced via a press release that Financière Agache, a company owned by Bernard Arnault, is selling its entire stake in the personal holding company of the boss of Europe 1, “in return for Lagardère SA shares“,”up to the value of its participation“in LC. Consequently, the billionaire boss of the LVMH group is leaving Lagardère Capital, in which he had taken 27% of stakes a little over a year ago. This operation marked the alliance between Arnaud Lagardère and Bernard Arnault in order to to face the assaults of Vivendi and Amber Capital, concerning the governance of the group.

Read also

Business

Financial results: TF1 targets a double-digit margin rate again in 2021

Business

Financial results: M6 benefits from the rebound in the advertising market in the first …

Business

Cinema offer, exclusive productions, dedicated channels …: The 6play platform …

“I did this to help Arnaud Lagardère”

In addition, to everyone’s surprise, Bernard Arnault had announced on September 24, 2020 his interest in the Lagardère group. He then concretely put 180 million euros on the table and took a 5% stake in the group. Thanks to these operations, Arnaud Lagardère, manager of the group that bears his name – which became a public limited company this summer – and his former partner Bernard Arnault then owned 15.01% of the capital and 16.93% of the voting rights of the publishing group. , media and shops in places of transport.

Asked on December 1, 2020 on BFM Business, the businessman assured that he had acted out of pure friendship. “I did this to help Arnaud Lagardère. Jean-Luc, his father, was my best friend. We were playing tennis every week together, I was absolutely sorry to see her go so quickly, unexpectedly“, explained Bernard Arnault.

“A long-term financial investment”

Now all eyes are on Vivendi and its boss Vincent Bolloré. In April 2020, the Breton leader showed his support for Arnaud Lagardère’s group by taking 10.6% of the shares. “This is a long-term financial investment testifying to Vivendi’s confidence in the prospects of this French group, strong in international leadership positions in its main businesses and which, like many others, is going through a difficult period.“, had indicated the Vivendi group.

Now a majority shareholder, with 29% of the shares, the Vivendi group is increasingly present within the Lagardère group, notably imposing several synergies between its media CNews and C8 and the Arnaud Lagardère station, Europe 1. This summer, the radio has also experienced a wave of departures, several of which are linked to Vincent Bolloré’s hold on the group. Several rallies took place in mid-June to denounce “a growing grip“of the entrepreneur.