Despite its oriental origins, Chuc Hoang is – according to the recent ranking of Challenges.fr the 176th richest man in France, with assets of 260 million euros thanks to the ownership, shared with his brother Nicolas, of the real estate investment companies MI29 and Eurobail.
Very far from the summit occupied by Bernard Arnault (very first with over 24 billion euros), Hoang however aims at the summit of the most famous and prestigious French building: the Eiffel Tower, or rather the homonymous real estate company of which the emerging tycoon now of transalpine brick holds 22,59% thanks to the purchase of 530 thousand new shares.
Hoang, who thus becomes the first shareholder of a holding company with a market value of 300 million euros and a turnover of 83 million in 2012, said it still wanted to raise the stake but without the intention of acquiring control of the Société de la Tour Eiffel.
Meanwhile, however, the man who is leading the assault on one of the symbols of Paris and France, has already begun to break the eggs in the basket of a management he and the experts appointed by him judged too expensive: "The company recorded losses of 6 million euros in 2012 but in the last financial year the costs of the general management almost doubled: I will sue the top management for abuse of power and abuse of corporate assets, if things don't change".
In fact, according to a recent report, the emoluments paid to the managers of the Société de la Tour Eiffel were 3 to 5 times higher than the average for a company in the same sector and of the same size. It is, however, a assets of almost 1 billion euros, so the semi-unknown financier doesn't want to give anyone any discounts.
Read the article on Le Figaro
