Sofina

Sofina

Traded as	Euronext Brussels: SOF
ISIN	ISIN: BE0003717312
Industry	financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding
Parent	Trust Financiers de Transports et d'Entreprises Industrielles

Sofina, Société Financière de Transports et d'Entreprises Industrielles, is a Belgian holding company, headquartered in Brussels with offices in Singapore and Luxembourg. 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%), banks and insurance (6%), private equity (6%), B2B (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, China, India and North America.[1]

History

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

Governance and Management

• 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

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

• Bira 91
• ByteDance
• Byju's
• Cambridge Associates[8]
• Cognita
• Colruyt
• Danone
• Eurazeo
• Flipkart (made an exit in 2018)[9]
• Myntra
• Pine Labs
• Richemont
• Sequoia Capital[8]
• SES
• Suez S.A.
• Typeform (service)
• Vinted (service)

See also

• Groupe Bruxelles Lambert

References

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. 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

• 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