Prominent family group takes stake in European investment group

JCDecaux Holding, the investment group controlled by the Decaux family, have bought a 15.4% stake in the Paris-based private equity group Eurazeo for an undisclosed sum.

Eurazeo has a portfolio worth more than €5 billion with minority and majority stakes in some well-known companies, including Europcar, Accor Hotels and Moncler. JCDecaux Holding, which owns the outdoor advertising group, JCDecaux, bought the stake from the French bank Credit Agricole.

The tie-up with the Decaux family will reinforce Eurazeo’s family-oriented shareholding, which includes a 3% stake held by France’s Richardson family, who own an electrical equipment group by the same name, based in Marseille. The private equity group also has some prominent family investment-linked board members, including chairman, Michel David-Weill, who was previously linked to the investment bank, Lazard Frères, and Harold Boël, who is chief executive of the Brussels-based investment group, Sofina. Eurazeo is also listed on Euronext Paris.