Bon Marché

"The court will remind that the principles set by a ruling of the Court of Cassation of February 4, 1985 state: "The interest of the group is defined as a common interest distinct from the interest of the dominant company and inseparable from the particular interest of the member companies. If the collective interest conflicts with the singular interest of a company, it is the latter that must prevail when the group's strategy exposes it to a risk to which it should not normally be exposed." Consequently, it was necessary to verify if, within the Agache-Willot group, subsidiaries like Dior, Conforama, Au bon Marché, or la Belle Jardinière had not suffered impoverishment by BSF or SFFAW, without possibility of compensation. Thus, the court will convict Jean-Pierre, Antoine, Bernard, and Régis Willot of misuse of corporate assets and credit for the benefit of Korvettes and to the detriment of Conforama, Bon Marché, and Dior."

"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."

"He has other concerns: to strengthen his treasury depleted by the purchases of September. He will do it through the Bon Marché."