雅虎香港財經 Ex-CEO Gets $2.8 Billion From Sale a Decade After Dreyfus Ouster
(Bloomberg) -- Jacques Veyrat received the renewable energy business now known as Neoen SA as part of an exit package after losing a power struggle with the widow of his former boss. Now he’s on the verge of pocketing €2.6 billion ($2.8 billion) from its sale.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Wall Street Billionaires Are Rushing to Back Trump, Verdict Be Damned
Donald Trump Becomes First Former US President Guilty of Crimes
S&P 500 Spikes in Final 20 Minutes of US Trading: Markets Wrap
Fed’s Favored Inflation Gauge Cools, Spending Unexpectedly Drops
The 61-year-old investor backed an offer this week for his 42% stake in the wind and solar producer that would value it at about €6.1 billion. Under the planned deal, Canadian asset manager Brookfield and partners will acquire the holding from Impala SAS, Veyrat’s family-owned investment company.
Neoen shares jumped as much as 21% Friday in Paris, the most on record.
Read More: Brookfield in Talks to Buy France’s Neoen at €6.1 Billion Value
The deal caps a 13-year journey that began with Veyrat’s departure from the helm of commodity-trading firm Louis Dreyfus Co. amid a dispute with Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, who took control of the company following the death of her husband Robert. After rolling the Neoen assets and others included in his exit package into Impala, he began building a broad portfolio that spans energy, cosmetics, culture, technology, real estate and finance.
“The idea of Impala is to launch a new business each year, even if we keep quiet about them for the first five years,” Veyrat said in an interview Thursday. He said he plans to use the Neoen proceeds to develop other projects related to the energy transition, including small and advanced nuclear reactors.
Impala is also investing in TagEnergy, another renewable firm that was created by former Neoen employees, in partnership with firms including Exor NV, the holding company of Italy’s billionaire Agnelli family.
Early Career
A graduate of France’s prestigious Ecole Polytechnique, Veyrat started his career in government at the French Treasury before joining Louis Dreyfus in 1995. He initially managed the logistics business at the firm before working his way up to the top job.
During his years at the commodities company, Veyrat created telecom operator Neuf Cegetel, which was sold in 2008 to Vivendi’s SFR at an €8 billion valuation. He said he reinvested his 2% stake, which was worth €160 million, in Louis Dreyfus shares.
When Veyrat left the trading firm in 2011, he swapped his shares for $30 million in cash and stakes in investment firm Eiffel Investment Group and energy supplier Direct Energie, which held the operations from which Neoen would emerge.
In 2018, Impala sold its stake in Direct Energie to French energy giant TotalEnergies SE, a deal that valued the power provider at €2 billion and yielded about €630 million for the Veyrat family. Veyrat said he poured some of the proceeds into Neoen, which went on to raise hundreds of millions of euros in an initial public offering in 2018 and subsequent share sales.
Family Business
Veyrat works closely with his son Simon, who is a member of Impala’s investment team. The company has an advisory committee on strategy that includes French billionaire Xavier Niel, Philippe Louis-Dreyfus and Exor head John Elkann. Veyrat said he prefers to be a majority owner, or at least have a large stake, in the companies Impala invests in.
Impala still retains its stake in asset manager Eiffel Investment Group, which has about €6 billion under management for large institutional investors. In the cosmetics and personal care sector, the firm has invested in a trio of companies that include Augustinus Bader, Laboratoire Native and P&B Group, while in real estate it has partnered with GHP group, controlled by the Rolland family, which has a dozen hotels and a pair of restaurants, according to its website.
Impala is named after a type of antelope found in eastern and southern Africa that Veyrat describes as “agile and powerful,” traits that he also attributes to his late boss.
“Robert Louis-Dreyfus taught me to act quickly,” Veyrat said in an interview posted on Impala’s website. “‘It’s better to make a bad decision than to not decide,’ he said. I totally agree.”
(Adds Neoen share price in third paragraph.)
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
Disney Is Banking On Sequels to Help Get Pixar Back on Track
US Malls Avoid Death Spiral With Help of Japanese Video Arcades
The Secret Ozempic Recipe Behind Novo’s Race to Boost Supplies
Israel Seeks Underground Secrets by Tracking Cosmic Particles
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
