2024-03-21 06:00:00
Nnew vintage for the annual CAC40 study proposed by Euronext, which manages the Paris stock exchange. Its authors have dissected the composition of the flagship French index as well as that of the SBF120, made up of the 120 largest French companies listed in the capital. Euronext managed to identify around 66% of shareholders at the end of 2022. What do we learn? That asset managers – these companies managing assets on behalf of third parties – have control over more than one in four shares in circulation (24.9%). Together they are the largest holders of the CAC40 and SBF120.
But the analysis highlights a particularity of French capitalism, since several families control large groups, or own large pieces of them. In total, they weigh 20.5% of the SBF120. These are often the founders themselves, associated with their children, like the Arnaults (LVMH) or the Pinaults (Kering), still invested in their company, or even heirs (the Hermès, the Bettencourt-Meyers or the Del Vecchio) keeping interests in the company founded by their ancestors (Hermès, L’Oréal, EssilorLuxottica). According to Euronext analysis, these five families hold nearly 18% of the CAC40!
The concentration of CAC40 shareholding
Another French specificity: the weight of passive management (or commonly called ETF, that is to say an index fund which seeks to follow the evolution of a stock market index as faithfully as possible). It weighs 6.3%, certainly up, but far from the performances recorded on the other side of the Atlantic, on Wall Street, where this so-called index management exceeds 15% of ownership, or even 30% according to certain observers. As for the French State, through for example the Caisse des Dépôts, the State participation agency, it weighs 2.2%.
Let’s zoom out a little. And let’s focus on the ten largest shareholders: the Arnaults, the Hermès, the Bettencourt-Meyers, the Pinaults, the Del Vecchios, therefore, but also BlackRock, Vanguard, the French state, Capital Group, the Norwegian sovereign fund. What concentration! They dominate the CAC40 with 28.2% in their hands, compared to 18.7% five years ago.
And, in fact, does the stock market appeal to individual investors like you and me? It seems so. The share of capital held by individuals is close to 4.6%. To this should be added the shares held (2.8%) by employees and former employees in companies.
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