It could be the story of the provincial entrepreneur who is all home and work, rigorously low profile. Of the family business that came from nowhere, grew up without even a debt, slowly, without haste, with prudence. Could be. But the story of Emmanuel Besnier, president-owner of Lactalis, the French giant of milk and its derivatives, who won his first battle in the war to grab Parmalat, is not only this. Ferrero in French Sauce? Not exactly.
Let's start with the myth of the billionaire next door. And from the fund of truth of him. Emmanuel, 40, directs his group from the anonymous Laval, 50 inhabitants, in Mayenne, in the deep west of France. Despite being number 15 in the national ranking of the richest (2,5 billion euros of personal assets) few would be able to recognize him on the street, even in his city. He doesn't drive around in a Ferrari or a Porsche, but in a sad gray Mazda without a chauffeur. Married to local Sandrine, he had three children. He punctually shows up at the reception of the professors. He accompanies the three boys to soccer practice on Saturday mornings. There are rare photos of Emmanuel, "stolen". He's a six-foot-five marcantonio, with glasses. Neither ugly nor beautiful. Any one. That, unlike the other ultra-rich French, he didn't need the "help" of politics. In short, nothing to do with any Vincent Bolloré. Nicolas Sarkozy, until recently, didn't even know who that Besnier was.
Let's get down to business. Because from this point of view, hush hush, ours is a "brutal" type, as the French say. Aggressive. It was his grandfather, André, who founded the family business. His father Michel, with just the elementary school certificate in his pocket, already understood in the 2000s (a forerunner) that in order to grow one had to join the locomotive of large-scale distribution. He created the Président brand, camambert and then other products, industrial but of high quality, which made the fortune of Lactalis. André died suddenly in 10,4. Emmanuel, a graduate of a private business school in Paris, who had accompanied him step by step for five years, took over the reins of the group. Since then he has started the run of Lactalis outside the French borders, through a bulimic series of acquisitions, one after the other, from Ukraine to China, passing through Russia. And Italy, where Galbani was "eaten". A shopping funded with internal liquidity? Impossible. The Besniers got into debt, without hesitation. Group still totally in the hands of the family, unlisted and without the obligation to publish the accounts (only the turnover, 2010 billion euros last year, was communicated), had to give some more precise indications precisely by launching the Takeover bid against Parmalat. So in Paris they discovered that the net margin achieved by the giant stopped in 3 at 6,5% against 11% of Parmalat or 4,3% of Danone, the eternal rival. As for net borrowing, it was 31 billion euros on March 7,7st, more than analysts had estimated. Which will become 71, if Lactalis truly absorbs the 2,6% of Parmalat's capital that it lacks, at XNUMX euros per share, a figure contested by the Board of Directors of the Italian group.
Meanwhile, some cracks begin to appear in the secrecy that surrounds the Lactalis headquarters in Laval. A former manager (who has remained anonymous) stressed to the weekly Le Point that the environment is not idyllic: «It's an army constantly at war. The mentality is not to get to the goal by roundabout roads, but to hit it, to make it fall». You can still breathe the atmosphere of the times of Michel Besnier, «a hard worker, who wanted to take revenge on a certain French «cheese aristocracy», who despised that small businessman from Mayenne», recalls another source close to the family. The meek (apparently) Emmanuel, after having annihilated the resistance of French milk producers and having reduced the tariffs paid for the raw material, since 28 February has gone to war against Leclerc, a large-scale retail chain with a "human" image » in Middle French. Of the untouchables. They rejected Lactalis' demand for a cheese price increase. They didn't understand who they were dealing with. Because Monsieur Besnier has since cut off supplies. Because Emmanuel, with his slightly humble gray Mazda, can become something else. Half a pirate.
