Iliad boss and French billionaire Xavier Niel now owns 23.24% of the capital of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), a shopping center giant, without intending to take control, according to an opinion from the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) published on Friday.
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The founder of Iliad told the AMF to have crossed up "
indirectly through the simplified joint stock companies Rock Investment and NJJ Market that he controls, the thresholds of 20% of the capital and voting rights of the company and indirectly hold 32,206,982 shares, or 23.24% of the capital
”.
Sling
Xavier Niel until now held 13.55% of the capital and plans to continue his purchases "
depending on market conditions
", details the AMF.
Xavier Niel had led with Léon Bressler, former CEO from 1992 to 2006, a sling of shareholders against the previous management of the group, pleading for a radical change of strategy.
They questioned the takeover in June 2019 of the Anglo-Saxon giant Westfield for more than 20 billion euros, which indebted the property company, and demanded the sale of the centers acquired in the United States on this occasion.
A successful rebellion with the arrival at the head of the supervisory board of Léon Bressler and the chairmanship of the management board of Jean-Marie Tritant, at the end of 2020. On this occasion, Xavier Niel joined the board. URW monitoring.
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UWR, which owns the Forum des Halles and nearly a hundred other centers in Europe and the United States, has been weighed down since the start of the Covid-19 crisis by the various episodes of confinement decreed around the world.
In the first half of 2021, its revenue plunged 26.2% to 785 million euros.
Its recurring net profit, a benchmark for the real estate sector, fell almost 30% to 472 million.
