PPR

"With François Pinault, the problem will not arise in the same terms since the French billionaire does not exist in the luxury industry. It is Joseph Perrella, former head of Wasserstein-Perrella bank, who first thinks of him and calls him from New York on February 23. As part of a European tour of potential white knights, Perrella arranges a meeting in early March at the Artémis headquarters on Boulevard de La Tour-Maubourg. Pinault asks Patricia Barbizet, CEO of his personal holding company, to attend the meeting. On these big occasions, the Breton boss relies on his intuition. He needs to feel Patricia's reactions, who he will later appoint as the chair of the supervisory board of PPR, because she is an intelligent, simple, and intuitive woman with a natural propensity to simplify problems rather than complicate them."

"PPR's blockade is due to a sudden veto from François Pinault. He too believes that Arnault is financially struggling. Above all, the use of an internal document in court, which could have been taken from the trash, has made him furious. He now knows where all the information circulating in France and England about Forest Product International, its relationship with John Ryan, and its past and present dealings with the tax authorities comes from. He knows who is stirring the pot in the conflict between France and the United States over the Executive Life file. "I will never sign an agreement with this thug," he tells his colleagues, lawyers, and visitors."

"Primondo only had three competitors worldwide: Amazon, the Otto Group, and the RedCats Group (PPR). Thus, Primondo was considered the prime cut of the Arcandor corporate group. In November 2010, the Carlyle Group made its move, retained the six profitable mail-order companies, and sold the rest, which quickly found further buyers. For instance, Baby-Walz has developed into a successful entity for the Carlyle Group: with over 300 million in sales, the company is now number 1 in the German baby specialty market."