Matthieu Pigasse

Matthieu Pigasse (born 1968) is a French investment banker, media mogul and investor. He previously served as Lazard's Global Head of Mergers and Acquisitions and Sovereign Advisory, as well as CEO of Lazard France. He currently serves as head of Centerview Partners in France.

Early life

Pigasse was born on May 25, 1968 in Clichy near Paris.Michael Stothard
Lunch with the FT: Matthieu Pigasse
''Financial Times'', May 23, 2014 He grew up in Normandy, rural France.Max Colchester
Athens Calling -- Banker Rocks EU
''The Wall Street Journal'', December 5, 2011 His father, Jean-Daniel Pigasse, was a journalist for ''La Manche libre''. His uncle, Jean-Paul Pigasse, is a media proprietor.

He graduated from the Sciences Po and the École nationale d'administration.Joshua Levine
Matthieu Pigasse
''Forbes'', 5/04/2011

Career as a financial advisor

Matthieu Pigasse started his career in 1994 at the French Treasury where he was in charge of the debt and cash management of the French State. He became advisor in charge of financial and industrial affairs for the Ministry of the Economy, Finances and Industry under Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn from 1998 to 1999. He then served as chief of staff to Finance Minister Laurent Fabius from 2000 to 2002.

Pigasse became a Managing Director at the investment bank Lazard in 2002. He was appointed Global head of Sovereign Advisory in 2003, working on some of the most important sovereign debt restructurings in the last decade: Iraq, Ecuador, Argentina, Cyprus and Greece.David Wighton
The Lazard Banker Shaping Greece's and Ukraine's Financial Fate
''Wall Street Journal'', February 4, 2015 He is also one of the most active bankers in Europe in mergers & acquisitions,David Wighton
M&A : les banquiers français conquièrent le classement européen
''Les Echos'', January 11, 2015 advising on deals such as "the $40bn merger of Suez and Gaz de France (to become GDF Suez)or the L’Oréal buy-back of Nestlé shares." Additionally, he advised Caisse d'Epargne to acquire a stake in Lazard.

He was appointed CEO of Lazard France in 2009, the Vice Chairman of Lazard Europe in 2011 and Global head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Lazard in April 2015.

He is a board member of BSkyB, Groupe Lucien Barrière and Derichebourg.

Media business

Pigasse's family had long been involved in owning or directing media – mostly newspaper publications.

Pigasse himself has been active in the media business, selling Newsweb to Arnaud Lagardère, giving advice to Murdoch about Eurosport, helping Pink TV, as well as offering financial support to the pure player Rue89.

Since 2010, he has also become the co-owner along with Xavier Niel and Pierre Bergé of ''Le Monde'', one of the main daily newspapers of France (politically, centre-left), as well as owner of the weekly magazine L’Obs (since 2014).
In October 2018, staff at ''Le Monde'' learned that Pigasse had sold 49% of his stake in the company to Czech businessman Daniel Křetínský. ''Le Mondes Independency Group, a minority shareholder that aims to protect the paper's editorial independence, had not been informed of the sale, and asked Pigasse and Křetínský to sign an "approval agreement" that would give the Independency Group the right to approve or reject any controlling shareholder. , they had not done so.

Through his personal holding company LNEI, he acquired the music magazine ''Les Inrockuptibles'' in 2009 and '' Radio Nova'' in 2015. He is also a shareholder in the French version of the '' Huffington Post'', Melty Group and ''Vice'' France.

In 2015, he was appointed Chairman of les Eurockéennes in Belfort, one of the largest rock festivals in Europe.Xavier Frère
Exclusive interview: I've fallen in love with this festival
''L'Est Républicain'', July 5, 2015
In 2016, he raised €250 million with Xavier Niel and Pierre-Antoine Capton to found Mediawan, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), with the ambition to become one of the largest media content and entertainment platforms in Europe.

Politics

A long-time Socialist Party member, he distanced himself from François Hollande's policies in 2014 through his third book ''Éloge de l’anormalité'', in which he criticizes the inability of the elites globally to address the crisis and the systematic use of austerity measures.

In May 2011, he organized a free concert in honor of the 30th anniversary of the election of President François Mitterrand.

Personal life

He is married to Alix Etournaud, a journalist. They have children. He does not own a house or a car.

Atypical in the banking landscape, Pigasse is a shameless player of video games such as ''Mario Party'', ''Mario Kart'' and ''Assassin’s Creed''. He is also known to be listening to punk rock.

Bibliography

*''Le Monde d'après, une crise sans précédent'' (with Gilles Finchelstein, Paris: Plon, 2009).
*''Révolutions'' (Paris: Plon, 2012).
*''Éloge de l’anormalité'' (Paris: Plon, 2014).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pigasse, Matthieu
Living people
1968 births
People from Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine
Businesspeople from Normandy
French bankers
French mass media owners
Sciences Po alumni
École nationale d'administration alumni
Pigasse family