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Article: Face value: Buy out and pay up.(private equity management)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- July 26, 2008
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Dominique Senequier of AXA Private Equity thinks her industry should be more generous
IN THE late 1980s a generation of French winemakers was preparing to hand over its vines. Many families, lacking a successor, wanted to sell. Dominique Senequier, then at GAN, an insurance firm, saw her chance. She bought two Bordeaux estates: Chateau Kirwan, whose wines had particularly impressed Thomas Jefferson when he visited in the 18th century, and Chateau Clinet. It was a pleasurable start to a career in private equity, and a lucky one: Ms Senequier met Claude Bebear, then chief executive of AXA, another insurer, who was also buying vineyards. In 1996 he picked her to ...