Who is Emmanuel Besnier? Bio, Age, Family, Wife, House, Net Worth, Career

Emmanuel Besnier Biography

Emmanuel Besnier is a businessman and heir from France. He is Lactalis’ chief executive officer (CEO). He is dubbed “the invisible billionaire.”

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How old is Emmanuel Besnier? – Age

He is 51 years old as of 18 September 2021. He was born in 1970 in Laval, France.

Emmanuel Besnier Family – Education

Michel Besnier was his father, and Christiane was his mother. André Besnier, his paternal grandfather, founded Lactalis in 1933. He has a brother named Jean-Michel and a sister named Marie. He attended Laval’s Lycée de l’Immaculée-Conception, a Roman Catholic private lycée. He received his diploma from the ISG Business School in Paris. They also live in a château he inherited from his father in Entrammes, near Laval.

Emmanuel Besnier Wife

He married Sandrine, a Laval native whom he met at the lycée, at Laval’s Basilique Notre-Dame d’Avesnières [fr]. They have three kids.

Emmanuel Besnier House

He, along with his family They live in Paris’s 7th arrondissement. They also live in a château he inherited from his father in Entrammes, near Laval. They spend their summers on the island of Ré and their winters in Courchevel

Emmanuel Besnier Photo
Emmanuel Besnier Photo

Emmanuel Besnier Career

Besnier joined Lactalis in 1995 as director of development. When his father died in 2000, he took over as CEO.

He owned 83% of Lactalis with his brother and sister. According to Forbes, he had a net worth of $15.1 billion in June 2018. He avoids the spotlight and has earned the moniker “the invisible billionaire.” He contributes €200,000 per year to the Francis-Le-Basser football stadium in Laval. He also attends their board of directors meetings. He built a private box with tinted glass to watch football matches from. He received the “Mayennais of the Year” award from the local Rotary Club in 2006.

He left Laval after finishing his education at home to attend the Institut Superieur de Gestion, a business school in Paris. Besnier joined the family business in 1995 as head of development and oversaw a number of acquisitions in the late 1990s. When his father died in June 2000, Besnier took over as CEO of the milk company, which had been renamed Lactalis. Since then, he has oversaw a number of acquisitions, including the 2006 purchase of Galbani, Italy’s leading cheesemaker, and the purchase of Rachel’s, a UK manufacturer of organic yogurts.

Lactalis was forced to disclose its 2010 financial statements and ownership structure as part of a 2011 offering document released by the company when it purchased Parmalat, an Italian dairy and fruit juice producer. Besnier also refused to sell Lactalis products to Leclerc, a French supermarket chain with over 500 stores in the country, due to its pricing policy. In January 2012, the dispute was settled. Six years later, Lactalis was forced to recall 12 million boxes of baby milk due to a salmonella outbreak at one of its factories.

According to the French business weekly LePoint, Besnier values his privacy. On the morning of his wedding to Sandrine, he awoke to find messages of congratulations plastered on the signage rented by Laval by French billboard billionaire Jean-Claude Decaux. Besnier directed his staff to remove them all.

Emmanuel Besnier Net Worth

He has an estimated net worth of 19.8 billion.