Factbox: Top 20 global family-owned retail businesses

George Weston

20/11/2024 12:49

By Linda Pasquini, Agata Rybska
       Nov 20 (Reuters) - Japan's Seven & i Holdings  3382.T 
received a buyout proposal from a member of its founding Ito
family last week, a potential $58 billion white-knight bid which
would see the company go private and allow it to continue
operating under current management. 
    Many global retailers have opted to stay privately owned or
have founding families which have retained significant stakes. 
    An index compiled by EY and University of St. Gallen at the
beginning of 2023 listed the 500 largest family businesses
globally ranked by revenue. Below is a list of the biggest 20
family-owned retailers, both publicly listed and private, which
all appeared within the top 100. 
     
    WALMART  WMT.N :
    The biggest of all family businesses, American omnichannel
retailer Walmart was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton, and is
currently headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. 
    The Walton family currently holds 45.5% of its shares
outstanding, according to LSEG data.
     
    SCHWARZ GROUP:
    The parent company of German supermarket chains Lidl and
Kaufland is owned by Dieter Schwarz, son of its founder Josef
Schwarz.
    The group, which was established in 1930, has about 13,900
stores and 575,000 employees in 32 countries.
     
    LVMH  LVMH.PA :
The Paris-based luxury goods group was founded in 1987 via a
merger of Moët Hennessy and Louis Vuitton, and has since 1989
been headed by Bernard Arnault, with his five children recently
moving up the ranks of company management.
    The Arnault family currently holds 48.8% of shares
outstanding, according to LSEG data.
     
    NIKE  NKE.N :
    The U.S.-based sportswear giant was co-founded by Phil
Knight and Bill Bowerman in 1964 as "Blue Ribbon Sports".
    Knight is currently Chair Emeritus of the board of directors
and attends meetings of the board as a non-voting observer,
after serving as Nike's president for a total of 25 years.
According to Nike's 2024 notice of annual meeting, Phil Knight
and his son Travis Knight own more than 97% of outstanding Class
A shares along with the holding companies and trusts they
control, such as Swoosh LLC.
     
    LOBLAW COMPANIES  L.TO :
    Loblaw is a Canadian food and pharmacy retailer
headquartered in Brampton, Canada.
    The largest investor is George Weston Ltd, founded by George
Weston in 1882, which owns 53.8%. George Weston is controlled by
the Weston family, including Galen G. Weston Galen, 51, chair
and director of Loblaw Companies Ltd.
     
    L'ORÉAL  OREP.PA :
    The French cosmetics maker was founded in 1909 by Eugène
Schueller and is headquartered in Clichy.
    Its biggest shareholder is the Bettencourt-Meyers family,
which holds 34.8% of the shares according to LSEG data. 
     
    ELO:
    France's Elo is the owner of supermarket chain Auchan, which
was founded in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez and has its headquarters
in Croix, France. The Mulliez family has a 98% stake in the
unlisted group Elo, and controls stores such as home improvement
and gardening outlet Leroy Merlin or sporting goods chain
Decathlon.
     
    HEB GROCERY:
    The Butt family owns all the voting shares in the American
grocery giant H-E-B. The private company has its headquarters in
San Antonio, Texas. It was founded by Florence Butt in 1905, and
her grandson Charles Butt currently is the chairperson of the
company. 
     
    RAJESH EXPORTS  REXP.NS :
    The Indian jeweller was founded in 1989 by its current
Executive Chair Rajesh Mehta.
The Mehta family controls 54.55% of the business, according to a
statement on the company's website.
     
    INDITEX  ITX.MC :
    The world's largest listed fashion retailer was founded in
1985 in Spain by Amancio Ortega as a holding company for the
Zara brand and its manufacturing plants.
Amancio Ortega controls about 59% of Inditex capital through
Pontegadea Inversiones and Partler Participaciones, with a 5%
stake held by daughter Sandra Ortega.
ALDI GROUP:
    Aldi's family-owned business was founded in 1913 in Germany.
In 1961, brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht divided the business
into two legally and economically independent companies,
supermarket chains ALDI Nord and ALDI Sued.
    The two sister businesses served initially north and south
Germany and then expanded to much of Europe as well as the
United States and Australia. 
     
    MERCADONA:
    Mercadona, the Spanish supermarket and online shopping
company, was created in 1977 by Francisco Roig Ballester and his
wife Trinidad Alfonso Mocholí as part of the Cárnicas Roig
Group.
    Juan Roig, son of the founders, is the president of the
company, with the family making up the majority of the board.
    The Roig family holds 100% of the shares in Mercadona
according to the EY St Gallen Family Business Index. 
     
    C&S WHOLESALE GROCERS LLC:
    The U.S.-based supply chain solutions provider and wholesale
grocery supplier was founded in 1918. In addition to its core
business, it operates and supports corporate grocery stores.
    Its owner and Executive Chair Rick Cohen is the third
generation of the Cohen family to lead the company.
     
    JERONIMO MARTINS  JMT.LS :
Founded at the end of the 18th century, the Portuguese retailer,
owner of Pingo Doce supermarkets, was acquired by Francisco
Manuel dos Santos in 1921 and has been led by the dos Santos
family ever since. Pedro Soares dos Santos is the current CEO of
the company and the family owns over 56% of the Jeronimo Martins
share capital through the Sociedade Francisco Manuel dos Santos.
 
    EMPIRE COMPANY  EMPa.TO :
    The Canada-based company operates in food retail through the
supermarket chain Sobeys, which was founded in 1907 by John W.
Sobey as a meat delivery business.
    Members of the Sobey family are still involved in the
management of the group, which was incorporated in 1963.
     
    H&M  HMb.ST :
    The Swedish fashion retailer has its headquarters in
Stockholm. It was founded by Erling Persson in 1947. 
    His son, Stefan Persson and his family are H&M's largest
shareholders via Ramsbury Invest AB, which holds all the class A
shares, which give 10 votes per share, as well as a portion of
class B shares, totalling 61% of all shares. The family of
Lottie Tham, Stefan's sister, holds 5.5%. 
    Stefan Persson's son, Karl-Johan Persson, is the board's
chairperson, having served previously as H&M's CEO from 2009 to
2020.
     
    COMPAGNIEFINANCIERE RICHEMONT  CFR.S :
    Cartier-owner Richemont was formed in 1988, when the
Rembrandt Group spun off its non-South African operations into
the new entity. 
    The Swiss luxury group, which also owns Swiss watchmakers
IWC, Piaget and Jaeger-LeCoulture, is controlled by Chair Johan
Rupert via a combination of two categories of shares that gives
him 51% of the voting rights.
     
    KERING  PRTP.PA :
    The France-based Gucci owner is led by the founder's son,
François-Henri Pinault, who has been CEO of the group since
2005. 
    The Pinault family owns 42% of the shares and nearly 60% of
voting rights in the company, which was established in 1962 by
François Pinault as a timber trading company and listed on the
Paris Stock Exchange in 1988, before shifting its focus to the
luxury sector in the late 1990s.
     
    LOVES TRAVEL STOPS & COUNTRY STORES:
    The U.S. based privately-owned chain operates truck travel
stops as well as fuelling stations with attached convenience
stores and has about 650 locations in 42 states.
    It was founded in 1964 by Tom and Judy Love and is owned by
their four children.
    Their sons Greg and Frank have been co-CEOs since 2014.
     
    FAST RETAILING  9983.T :
    The Japanese operator of the Uniqlo clothing chain was
founded in 1949 and currently headed by Tadashi Yanai, Japan's
richest man and Uniqlo brand founder.
Yanai, 75, who has long aimed to make Fast Retailing the world's
biggest fashion retailer, currently holds a 17.19% stake in the
company, according to LSEG data. The stake held by his family in
total amounts to 41.28%.
     
  
     
  

(Reporting by Linda Pasquini and Agata Rybska in Gdansk; Editing
by Matt Scuffham and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
((mailto:gdansk.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com;))