FB Roundup Enthoven family, Bernard Arnault, David Thomson

Enthoven family looks to take over The Observer newspaper

The Enthoven family is gearing up to launch a long-rumoured takeover of Britain’s The Observer Sunday newspaper. 

According to The Daily Telegraph, the family is backing the plans of former BBC News director and The Times editor James Harding who is expected to launch his bid through his Tortoise Media group. The Enthoven family already hold a stake in Tortoise via their private office Yellowwoods. 

The newspaper reports that the family will be joined by the respective private investment vehicles of Karl-Johan Persson and Tom Persson, the sons of Swedish fashion billionaire Stefan Persson. 

The Enthoven family was led by Richard Enthoven until his death in December 2022. He was the founder of the dining chain Nando's, the Hollard Group of insurance companies, and Spier Wine Farm.

Enthoven had three children – Robby, Adrian, and Mariota – and the current executive chairman of Yellowwoods is Adrian. 

Educated at Michaelhouse School and at Oxford University, Adrian is responsible for the African portfolio of financial services, hospitality and wine investments. He serves on the boards of the group's South African-based businesses, including Hollard, Clientele, Lombard, &Beyond and Spier. He is also involved in various projects and initiatives in the areas of youth employment, education, social justice and the arts.

The family is estimated to have a net worth of around $1.1 billion. 

Bernard Arnault plans to buy Paris FC

Bernard Arnault, one of the world’s richest men, is to take a majority stake in second-division football club Paris FC, as the billionaire clan moves into sports.

Under the terms of the deal, the Arnault family will take a stake of around 55% through its holding company Agache, before buying out club chairman Pierre Ferracci’s 30% holding in 2027. 

“The history and the evolution of Paris FC embodies a whole other aspect to football in the capital. With the arrival of Agache as the club’s majority shareholder, the club will take on a new dimension with new goals and criteria for success,” the family said in a statement. 

Red Bull will acquire a 15% stake in the team alongside Agache.

Financial terms have not been disclosed and legal details still have to be completed. 

Paris FC is less well known than rivals Paris Saint-Germain, the French capital’s main football team, which is backed by Qatar and has had notable success since the oil-rich country invested in the club in 2011. 

The investment is being seen as bringing some status to French football. It has been much commented upon that while Rome has two football teams, Madrid has five and London has seven in their respective premier leagues. 

It should be noted that Paris FC’s women's team already plays in the Première League.

Bernard’s son Antoine will be the family representative on the Paris FC board. 

At the end of June, CampdenFB reported that Arnault had promoted Frédéric, the fourth of his five children, to replace Nicolas Bazire as managing director of Financiere Agache, the family holding company that controls LVMH.

David Thomson deepens bets on AI

David Thomson has confirmed his interest in artificial intelligence with another investment in AI. Via his family office Thomvest Ventures, Canada’s richest family has led the Series B round in Relyance AI. 

The AI-powered data governance platform that provides visibility and control over enterprise-wide data raised $32.1 million in funding to scale operations and meet the needs of the use of artificial intelligence in the enterprise. 

Relyance AI aims to safeguard businesses from fines and reputation damage while boosting customer trust to accelerate business growth. The platform provides visibility into enterprise-wide data processing and compares it against contractual commitments, global privacy regulations, and compliance frameworks. 

The company has scaled significantly to meet recent demand for these capabilities. In the first half of this year, Relyance AI says that it has increased its enterprise customer base by 30%, and is projected to double its annual recurring revenue in 2024. 

Clients include Coinbase, Fivetran, Verkada, Snowflake, Logitech, Plaid, and Notion.

"The era of accepting subpar privacy, DSPM, and AI governance solutions is over. Relyance AI sets a new standard where data protection and innovation are not mutually exclusive," says Abhi Sharma, chief executive and co-founder of Relyance AI. "It's impossible to keep up with the current state of regulations, especially when GDPR, HIPAA, the EU's AI Act, and a mosaic of local U.S. privacy laws are all different and sometimes at odds. We're making it possible to demystify this and embolden the C-suite, engineers, and legal teams to urgently green-light AI in the enterprise with an integrated governance approach."

David Thomson and his family control a media and publishing empire that was founded by his grandfather Roy Thomson. The family's largest holding is its almost 70% stake in news organisation Thomson Reuters which is chaired by Thomson himself. The family also owns the Toronto-based Globe and Mail newspaper.

Forbes estimates that the Thomson family is worth around $70.3 billion.