Barthélémy Guislain re-elected to head the AFM, owner of Decathlon, Kiabi and Jules

On Saturday May 25, Barthélémy Guislain was reappointed for a further five years at the head of the Mulliez Family Association (AFM), which owns Auchan, at a meeting of its members, AFP learned from a source close to the association. The source said that “he was unanimously appointed Chairman of the Management Board by his peers, the nine members of the Management Board”.

This is the third consecutive election for the 50-year-old, who was first elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2019. Within AFM, this graduate of IESEG (Lille business school) co-founded Kbane in 2008, which offers solutions for the energy performance of homes, after starting out at KPMG as an auditor and then working at Leroy Merlin.

AFM is a family galaxy made up of almost 900 cousins, at the head of 130 brands, including Auchan, but also Decathlon, Leroy Merlin, Jules, Kiabi, Saint Maclou, Pizza Paï and Electro Depot. “The 850-900 shareholders in the association elect the nine members of the association’s management board,” said the source.

Their companies, which also include Flunch, BZB, Weldom and Boulanger, have annual sales of 100 billion euros and employ 650,000 people worldwide. In textiles, the Mulliez galaxy has decided to offload some of its assets in recent years, with the sale of Phildar (in 2020), Pimkie (early 2023) and Grain de Malice (mid-2023).

The members of this economic interest grouping, founded in 1955, run their businesses as a family in the greatest secrecy. A sort of shareholders’ pact, combining non-trading companies held by the family and holding companies managing the brands.

Only the descendants of the original Mulliez couple, Louis and Marguerite, and their spouses, commonly known as “added values”, are authorised to hold shares, which is the case for Barthélémy Guislain, married to a Mulliez and father of four children.

The AFM is also at the heart of an investigation in Paris into suspected tax fraud, in which several of the family’s heirs have been indicted. Contacted by AFP at the beginning of May, the family said it was “totally calm” about what it considered to be “totally unfounded” proceedings.

With a net worth of €20 billion, this family from the north of France was the eighth richest family in France in 2023, according to Challenges.

(With AFP)