Sofina

Summary

Sofina, Société Financière de Transports et d'Entreprises Industrielles, is a Belgian holding company, headquartered in Brussels with offices in Singapore. As part of the Bel20 index, it is one of the twenty largest capitalisation in Belgium. The company invests in several industrial sectors such as telecommunication (7%), portfolio companies, banks and insurance (6%), private equity (6%), services within the company (18%), consumer goods (31%), energy (6%), food distribution (8%) and various other sectors (10%). Geographically, Sofina has investments located in Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, India and North America.[1]

History edit

The company was founded in 1898. It was led from 1905 until 1955 by the Belgian-American engineer of German origin Dannie Heineman (1872-1962).[2] Historically, the company owned the Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company, which was one of the largest tram operators in the world at the time.[3] From 1955 on, the current family shareholders started to invest. Yves Boël is appointed Director in 1956. In 1964, the Boël family took control together with Société Générale de Belgique.[4]

Governance, management and shareholder structure edit

Governance and Management edit

  • Chairman of the board: David Verey since 2014[5] (took over from Richard Goblet d'Alviella)
  • Management: Harold Boël, chief executive officer,[6] Xavier Coirbay, Wauthier De Bassompierre, Francois Gillet. Former Managers : Jean-Luc Reginster, former general counsel, former secretary; Marc Speeckaert, former managing director; Marc Van Cauwenberghe, former deputy managing director.

Shareholder structure edit

The majority of the shares are held by the Boël family. The remaining shares are listed on Euronext Brussels and Sofina is part of the Bel 20 index.[7]

Notable investments edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Sofina (March 2020). "Annual Report 2019" (PDF). Sofinagroup.com. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  2. ^ APS Physics. "Dannie Heineman". www.aps.org. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  3. ^ Bart DeGroof ... (1998). En los deltas de la memoria : Bélgica y Argentina en los siglos XIX y XX. Leuven: Leuven University Press. ISBN 90-6186-860-2. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  4. ^ "Societe Generale Wins in Struggle To Control Sofina". The New York Times. November 28, 1964. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  5. ^ Uk Government. "Sir David Verey Biography". Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  6. ^ Bloomberg (2021). "Harold Boel, Chief Executive Officer, Sofina SA". Bloomberg News. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  7. ^ Euronext Brussels (2021). "Bel 20 Factsheeet" (PDF). Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  8. ^ a b Dawn Lim (March 17, 2018). "Lim's Take: Cambridge Associates Adds to Its Family of Backers". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  9. ^ "Walmart-Flipkart deal: A look at the successful exits of Indian e-commerce". Business Today. May 9, 2018. Retrieved March 24, 2022.

External links edit

  • Official website
  • Sofina news
  • For the history and historical archives of the company, see Association pour la Valorisation des Archives d'Entreprises
  • Documents and clippings about Sofina in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW