List of 3 large single family offices from Paris

Of the ten richest Europeans, five are French – each with multi-billion dollar assets. In the following, we are introducing you to three interesting Parisian family offices.

1. FINANCIERE AGACHE SA

FINANCIERE AGACHE acts as the holding umbrella for the holding company “Christian Dior SE”, which in turn controls the majority of the luxury goods group “LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE”. Behind it is the French entrepreneur Bernard Arnault, who together with his family has a fortune of over 220 billion dollars. According to the Forbes list, this makes him the richest billionaire in the world (as of June 2023). The company also consolidates Christian Dior SE and LVMH for accounting purposes. The consolidated balance sheet shows sales of 79 billion euros for 2022. Active investments are also made through the FINANCIERE AGACHE Single Family Office. For example, the acquisition of Birkenstock – together with the Arnault private equity fund L Catterton – was realized.

2. Financière Saint James

Financière Saint James is the family office of Michaël Benabou. The French entrepreneur of Moroccan origin became wealthy through establishing e-commerce platforms. He recognized early on the opportunities for marketing textiles and other items over the Internet. His online marketplace vente-privée.com became a resounding success. Financière Saint James is active as an investor in venture capital and real estate. In venture financing, the family office is an early-stage investor and prefers to finance technology-driven startups. In the real estate sector, it is involved in buildings in need of renovation in order to realize potential for value enhancement through new utilization concepts. With Dee Tech, a listed investment vehicle, it also offers investment opportunities to other family offices and investors.

3. Le Groupe SD2P

SD2P is the family office of the French entrepreneurial family Pierre and Marie-Laure Esnée. The abbreviation “SD2P” stands for “Société de Développement Professionnel Pierre Esnée”. The sale of the Frial food group in 2008 formed the basis of the family office’s activities. The SD2P Group is heavily involved in the hotel sector and owns around 100 hotels – in the two to five star categories – mainly in France, Belgium and Switzerland. These include the flagship hotels Lancaster and Sofitel Baltimore in Paris. SD2P also operates Cityscoot, an e-scooter rental service in Paris, Milan and Turin. It also produces its own wine.

Image source: Leonard Cotte