Belgium a 17b euro tax haven for France's richest entrepreneurs: report
France's wealthiest entrepreneurs hold around €17 billion (HK$168 billion) in neighbouring Belgium where taxes are lower, according to a French newspaper report.
France's wealthiest entrepreneurs hold around €17 billion (HK$168 billion) in neighbouring Belgium where taxes are lower, according to a French newspaper report.
Its lists of exiles includes Bernard Arnault, head of the luxury goods group LVMH and France's richest man; media mogul Stephane Courbit; businessman and former government minister Bernard Tapie; and the Mulliez family, which controls the Auchan supermarket chain.
also listed the Bongrain family, head of France's second-biggest cheese company, which set up a holding company in Brussels in 1988; the Besnier family, founders of the milk product company Lactalis; and the Savare family, whose Oberthur Technologies group is a world leader in secure printing.
The youngest son of the Decaux publicity family also has a holding company in Belgium, according to the paper, as does the Heriard-Dubreuil family, which made its fortune in spirits.
claimed that almost 20 of France's richest 100 people had invested part of their wealth in Belgium. When it extended its research to the top 500, it found that many more were either living in or setting up holding companies in Belgium, involving €17 billion in assets and investments.
"Of course, nobody ever talks about tax evasion or even exile. No, in the discretion of the chambers of the biggest tax lawyers, they talk more of optimisation. And they are not wrong," reported.
It said those concerned were "not shouting it from the rooftops" but "sheltering their holdings behind increasingly improbable names".
editor in chief Joan Condijtsof said the investment climate and employment opportunities in Belgium were attracting wealthy French. "We have not really looked at the real number of French or their assets, so what we found was a surprise," he said.
There are believed to be about 250,000 French, including 13,300 entrepreneurs, living in Belgium. The number is said to have increased by 39 per cent since 2007.
