Joseph Oughourlian (born 1972 in Paris), is a French financial entrepreneur and businessman of Lebanese – Armenian origin. Founder of the activist fund Amber Capital, he invests in companies whose management he then seeks to influence.
He is also known to the public as president of the
Racing Club de Lens
Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), com ...
, since June 16, 2018,
Biography
Origins and formation
Oughourlian was born in Paris on February 15, 1972. He is the son of the
neuropsychiatrist
Neuropsychiatry or Organic Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that deals with psychiatry as it relates to neurology, in an effort to understand and attribute behavior to the interaction of neurobiology and social psychology factors. Within neuro ...
Jean-Michel Oughourlian and the grandson of Mr. Oughourlian who was, from 1962 to 1983, first vice-governor of the
Banque du Liban
Banque du Liban (BdL, ar, مصرف لبنان, English: Bank of Lebanon) is the central bank of Lebanon. It was established on August 1, 1963, and became fully operational on April 1, 1964. It is currently headed by Riad Salameh.
One of the ma ...
(
Central Bank of Lebanon) and a survivor of the
Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...
.
His mother, a nurse, is English.
He attended secondary school at Sainte-Croix de Neuilly, where he obtained his baccalaureate in 1989. He graduated from the
École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris (HEC Paris) and the
Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris
, motto_lang = fr
, mottoeng = Roots of the Future
, type = Public research university''Grande école''
, established =
, founder = Émile Boutmy
, accreditation ...
(Sciences Po),.
He also obtained a master's degree in economics at the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
.
Professional career
He began his career in cooperation at
Société Générale
Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English as SocGen (), is a French-based multinational financial services company founded in 1864, registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby in La Défense.
Société Générale ...
in 1994.
He moved to
New York in 1996 where, the following year, he began to manage funds directly, again for Société Générale.
This is how he comes to create in October 2001the first Amber fund, by split,
using seed capital from the bank. He then headed a fund with more than six billion in assets.
In 2005, he founded the activist investment fund
Amber Capital in New York, but three years later the crisis undermined his clientele and the assets he managed.
In 2012, he relocated the management company to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
due to numerous investments in Europe, but also with offices in Milan;
Oughourlian invests a lot in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
(in around twenty different companies).
In December 2015, he was appointed to the board of directors of the Spanish press group
Prisa. April 29, 2019, he was appointed vice-president, being the main shareholder through the company Amber Capital then chairman of the board of directors in February 2021. Once his actions in the
Lagardère Lagardère may refer to:
* Lagardère Group, a French media group
* Jean-Luc Lagardère (1928–2003), French engineer and businessman and CEO of the Lagardère Group
* Arnaud Lagardère
Arnaud Lagardère (; born 18 March 1961) is a French busine ...
group were completed in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, he invested more particularly in its affairs in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
; in 2021 it owns almost a third of the Prisa group while
Vivendi
Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...
, which became a partner following the raid on Lagardère, owns almost a tenth of the shares.
As of March
1, 2020 (i.e. after the stock market crash of 2020), Amber Capital manages 1.1 billion euros in assets.
Activism
Via Amber Capital, Mr. Oughourlian invests in companies that he considers to be badly managed and whose management he seeks to influence (
activist shareholder
An activist shareholder is a shareholder who uses an equity stake in a corporation to put pressure on its management. A fairly small stake (less than 10% of outstanding shares) may be enough to launch a successful campaign. In comparison, a full ...
).
However, he defines himself as an “active manager” and refutes the qualification of activist.
In 2014, he obtained the departure of Frédéric Vincent from his position as CEO of
Nexans.
In 2015, he became the first shareholder of
Prisa, then forced it to restructure and sell its stake in ''
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
''. In 2016, he took a stake in
Gameloft
Gameloft SE is a French video game publisher based in Paris, founded in December 1999 by Ubisoft co-founder Michel Guillemot. The company operates 18 development studios worldwide, and publishes games with a special focus on the mobile games ma ...
and raised the stakes between
Vivendi
Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...
and
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', ...
before allowing Vivendi to win.
It also encourages
Total to raise its offer for
Saft.
In 2017, he led Solocal to restructure its debt and pushed Lactalis to raise its offer for
Parmalat.
Two years later, he asked Suez to rethink its strategy and sell its Spanish subsidiary Agbar.
In 2020, he was personally at the origin of a high-profile campaign to oust Arnaud Lagardère, whom he accuses of poor management, from his group,
by demanding the revocation of
Lagardère Lagardère may refer to:
* Lagardère Group, a French media group
* Jean-Luc Lagardère (1928–2003), French engineer and businessman and CEO of the Lagardère Group
* Arnaud Lagardère
Arnaud Lagardère (; born 18 March 1961) is a French busine ...
's supervisory board. This battle of shareholders also became a battle of people, between the i nterested party and Arnaud Lagardère
and lasted four years.
Personal life
Oughourlian moved in 2012 to reside in South Kensington with his wife Jennifer “Jennie” Banks and their three children. He speaks fluent English, French, Italian and Spanish.
He has been the Vice President of the
Armenian General Benevolent Union
The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU, Eastern Armenian: Հայկական Բարեգործական Ընդհանուր Միություն, ՀԲԸՄ, ''Haykakan Baregortsakan Endhanur Miutyun'', or hyw, Հայ Բարեգործական Ընդ ...
in
UK since 2010.
He is also one of the main patrons of
Sciences Po.
Involvement in the sporting environment
Mr. Oughourlian invested from 2015 in the Colombian club
Millonarios
Millonarios Fútbol Club is a professional Colombian football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the El Campín stadium.
Millonarios was initially created in 1937 by students f ...
(Bogota), then in difficulty,
but left management to his partner Gustavo Serpa,
Colombia is her grandmother's country of origin.
In May 2016, Mr. Oughourlian, who runs an ad hoc fund called Solferino, is preferred to two competing offers to buy the football club
Racing Club de Lens
Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), com ...
, in a very delicate financial situation after five consecutive seasons in
Ligue 2. The stated objective is to bring and stabilize the club in
Ligue 1. But after a first season where Lens is very close to the rise, the second sees the team sinking into the bottom of the L2 classification, pushing the new owner to radical changes. In December 2017 he became the sole shareholder, after the buyout of the minority stake held by
Atlético Madrid, and the June 16, 2018, chairman of the board of directors.
He recovered the club financially, reducing its losses from 17 million euros to 3 million,
improving its management, assisted by a general manager, Arnaud Pouille.
Mr. Oughourlian claims a policy of accessible prices for supporters, with whom he evokes a “contract” which leads him to have a social policy: “Low prices will stay low”.
He declares in December 2019that "his secret dream is to bring Europe back to Bollaert",
while Lens is still in Ligue 2. Accession to L1 will be obtained at the end of the 2019–2020 season, cut short by the
Covid-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. In July 2020, he became president of the new women's Racing Club de Lens .
After the rise of RC Lens in the elite, the shareholder continued to invest with personal funds, financing the recruitment of players with several million euros . In particular, he brought in the Ivorian player
Seko Fofana
Seko Mohamed Fofana (born 7 May 1995) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Lens. Born in France, he represents the Ivory Coast national team.
Club career
Manchester City
Born in Paris, France, Fofana began ...
in the summer of 2020, the biggest transfer in the history of the club. The recognition of his peers club presidents allows him to be elected to the board of directors of the Professional Football League in November 2022. In May 2023, Mr. Oughourlian's wish came true: after 16 years of absence, Lens qualified for a
European Cup, the most prestigious, the
Champions League. With this success, he managed to bring with him new shareholders.
In December 2017, he also became a shareholder of Calcio Padua, an Italian football club playing in Serie C, promoted to Serie B in 2018–2019.
Sources
* Gilles Fontaine, "Portrait de Mr. Oughourlian (Amber Capital)", ''Challenges'',
no 693, 8 avril 2021,
p. 40–43
(ISSN 0751-4417).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oughourlian, Joseph
French businesspeople
1972 births
Living people
PRISA TV