Belle Jardinière

"The formula succeeds beyond all expectations. In four years, the company has repaid its concordat, absorbed about ten affiliates, and opened new stores (including the one at Pont-Neuf, in the Belle Jardinière building). The company becomes profitable again, distributes a dividend after having rebuilt its equity."

"The Agache-Willot group indeed had, with its retail subsidiaries, Conforama and Le Bon Marché, its real estate companies: Belle Jardinière, its industrial real estate, its 4,500 homes, and its exceptional properties such as the Mivoisin estate, a considerable asset base generating significant income and free of mortgages. Indeed, 70% of the capital of the Conforama and Dior companies had been pledged to the banks since August 1980, but the direct competitors of the group, like DMC or the Prouvost group, are in an economic and financial situation that is hardly more brilliant without having such a considerable mass of assets."

"After this operation and some purchases on the stock market, his holding company now owns 36% of the capital, which, together with the self-controlled shares and those held by Peigné de Malines (a subsidiary of SFFAW) and Belle Jardinière, gives him an absolute majority."

"On the floor below, Bernard Arnault houses Financière Agache et Férinel. Further down, a constellation of SMEs spread across four sectors of activity: luxury (Dior, Christian Lacroix, Céline), distribution (Bon Marché, Belle Jardinière, Conforama), industry (Peaudouce, Saint-Frères, Boussac) and finance (Facet, Crédit Financier Lillois) 7."

"At the beginning of 1985, Bernard Arnault took stock. Since his visit to the Willot brothers six months ago, he has come a long way. He got what he wanted: the fashion house Dior, the flagship, but also a distribution group (Conforama, Belle Jardinière, and Bon Marché) with interesting real estate assets. He also acquired packaging factories and Peaudouce baby diapers. The downside: a dilapidated textile group."

"On Wednesday, October 26th, Bernard Arnault chose the general assembly of his flagship company (Financière Agache) to announce his plans: now that he holds a blocking minority in LVMH, he will restructure his distribution group (Bon Marché, Belle Jardinière, Conforama) inherited from Boussac around a clear organizational chart with the goal of raising capital. The plan: Bon Marché becomes the parent company of Conforama, of which it will own 86.5% of the capital, and strengthens its stake in Belle Jardinière to 75.7%. At the end of the operation (see table 2), the whole group will combine a large real estate capital (about 100,000 square meters for Bon Marché alone) with a significant distribution force. It will represent nearly 300 million francs in net profits in 1988 for a turnover of over 7 billion francs. This structure will allow Bernard Arnault to appeal to the market under good conditions. He plans to proceed with a capital increase of 2.4 billion francs, which will be reinvested in Christian Dior."