The billionaire Peugeot family’s investment arm suffered last year from the collapse of scandal-ridden elderly-care operator Orpea and a deep slump in its auto holdings.
Peugeot Invest, the listed company controlled by the multigenerational French clan and headed by Robert Peugeot, saw the gross value of its assets tumble 16 percent to 5.9 billion euros ($6.4 billion) in 2022, according to results published this week. Return on investments dropped 10 percent.
The company is 80 percent owned by Etablissements Peugeot Freres, the family holding overseeing a fortune centered around the eponymous car manufacturer.
The clan emerged with a 7 percent stake in the Stellantis following the merger of PSA and Fiat Chrysler to create one of the industry’s largest and most profitable automakers. The company has a market value of 50 billion euros.
Italy’s billionaire Agnelli heirs own 14 percent of Stellantis.
The value of Peugeot Invest’s auto holdings, which also include a stake in supplier Forvia, fell by 23 percent to 2.3 billion euros. The sector struggled last year with higher energy and transport costs as well as shortages in semiconductors.
Peugeot Invest also has a 5 percent stake in Orpea, the beleaguered nursing-home operator embroiled in one of France’s biggest corporate-governance scandals. Its market value crumpled last year following the publication of a book claiming it put profits before patient welfare and pointing to financial misconduct.
Among the recent changes in its portfolio, the family became part of a trio of the nation’s wealthiest dynasties investing in Rothschild to help take the French bank private. Peugeot Invest could acquire as much as 5.1 percent and take a seat on the supervisory board.
“We see this opportunity as a long-term partnership between different European families and the Rothschild families,” Peugeot Invest CEO Bertrand Finet said on a call with analysts Thursday. “Our view is to be a long-term shareholder in a family-controlled company. It’s at the heart of our investment strategy.”
Peugeot Invest has holdings in more than 60 listed and unlisted companies as well as a portfolio of private equity and real estate funds. It made more disposals than acquisitions last year, including offloading a stake in asset-management firm Tikehau Capital Advisors.
Finet downplayed the possibility that some of its unlisted holdings could drop in value.
“We are not that worried, but the market is pretty unstable at the moment,” he said. “So far, we have not seen any alarming signals.”
The Peugeots trace their industrial roots to 1810, when an ancestor converted a windmill into a steel workshop. Its first car dates back to 1889. Family members are still actively involved in the business and make up about half of the Peugeot Invest board.
