Luxury Retail Billionaire Bernard Arnault Sells Stake In Carrefour

Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of the LVMH group, has sold his stake in supermarket Carrefour, a company he invested in 14 years ago.

Arnault held a 5.7 percent stake in the company through his Financiere Agache holding company. Agache raised $854 million by selling the shares through an accelerated bookbinding process, which resulted in a sale at 16 euros per share.

The French billionaire had taken a combined 9.8 percent stake with Colony Capital and Axon Capital for 47 euros per share in 2007, according to Reuters. Arnault had already sold some of his shares in September last year.

Carrefour’s shares were down 4.48 percent this morning.

While Agache noted that the deal did not result in a loss, partly due to dividends, Bryan Garnier analysts reportedly believe that Arnault sold his stake at a loss.

Arnault’s move to sell his stake comes at a time when Carrefour is undergoing a business overhaul under Chairman and Chief Executive Alexandre Bompard, which is starting to yield results.

Agache said that the sale is part of Arnault’s effort to refocus its investments.

“Over the last four years, Carrefour has achieved an outstanding recovery under the management of Alexandre Bompard,” Arnault said in a statement. “After 14 years during … we have decided to pursue the reorientation of our investments.”

Originally published at https://retailbum.com on September 1, 2021.