The Lagardère saga will not have known a summer truce: Arnaud Lagardère continues to be abused by his shareholders. Tuesday, August 11, the businessman was attacked by Vincent Bolloré, Lagardère’s largest shareholder with 23.5% of the capital, who decided to join forces with his long-standing enemy, the activist fund Amber Capital ( 20% of the capital).
Second episode Thursday, August 13. Under pressure from the same Amber Capital, the heir ended up publishing the accounts of Lagardère Capital & Management (LCM), his personal holding company, in the commercial register. This key structure of the Lagardère galaxy, which owns the Relay and Hachette boutiques and other prestigious media such as Paris Match and Europe 1, fulfills several sensitive functions: it holds Arnaud Lagardère’s 7.3% stake in the group of the same name, as well as its personal debt. It also pays the 5 members of the group’s executive committee, including Arnaud Lagardère himself.
Tumble
Since 2009, the boss kept these secret accounts. Until Amber Capital had him condemned in October 2019 by the commercial court to be transparent about this company, under penalty of a fine of 2,000 euros per day of delay. On-call penalty revised to 5,000 euros per day on July 8, 2020. That is to say a total invoice greater than 500,000 euros if Arnaud Lagardère does not decide to comply within three months. He will have finally given in.
The documents finally made public confirm the difficult situation of the heir. At the start of the 2000s, Arnaud Lagardère was heavily indebted – up to 544 million euros to increase his stake in the group to 10% of the capital. Since then, the dashing fifty-something has significantly reduced his debt, without absorbing it.
Between 2009 and 2019, its financial burden, mainly consisting of a loan contracted with Crédit Agricole, fell from 434 million euros to 215 million euros. At the green bank, he owed 164 million euros at the end of last year, against 434 million euros ten years before. Problem: over the same period, the value of Lagardère shares, which serve as collateral for the bank, plummeted, forcing even LCM to write down assets. In 2019, LCM posted a loss of 79 million euros.
Important deadlines
In 2019, a Lagardère share was still valued at 25 euros in the accounts. At this level, the businessman still seemed solvent. But in reality, the securities were no longer worth Thursday, August 13 that 15 euros, valuing the participation of Arnaud Lagardère at 142 million euros, an amount significantly lower than the debt, which places the heir in a situation of virtual bankruptcy.
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