Brazilian businessman Abilio Diniz, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, December 12, 2016 (AFP / Miguel SCHINCARIOL)
Brazilian billionaire Abilio Diniz, second shareholder of Carrefour via his family holding Peninsula and a figure in the food distribution sector in his country, died on Sunday at the age of 87, the group announced.
He died of “respiratory failure, as a result of pneumonitis”, those around him said on his Instagram account.
“Abilio Diniz was an adventurer with a thousand lives, an exceptional entrepreneur, a high-level athlete, a man of media and culture,” Alexandre Bompard, CEO of Carrefour, reacted Monday on X (ex-Twitter).
Forbes magazine estimated the fortune of the man who was a true celebrity in Brazil at $2 billion in February 2024.
Born in Sao Paulo, the eldest of six children, he inherited the Pao de Açucar distribution group, founded by his father, an immigrant from Portugal.
The first store, opened in 1948, was just a simple pastry shop, named “Pao de Açucar” in homage to Sugarloaf, a tourist symbol of Rio de Janeiro, one of the first things his father saw when he arrived in Brazil. .
Other small stores emerged in the following years, but it was in 1959 that Abilio Diniz and his father opened their first supermarket.
Pao de Açucar then became a distribution empire, leader in Brazil before being sold to the French group Casino in 2012.
– Kidnapped in 1989 –
Abilio Diniz, a philanthropist associated with numerous projects to improve education in his country, was followed by 1.3 million people on Facebook, where he often published images of his sporting exploits.
An accomplished marathoner and triathlete, he also practiced several martial arts, notably karate and capoeira. In his youth, he was a top pilot.
“His vitality, his dedication to work and his faith in Brazil are great life lessons,” Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin reacted Monday on X.
Abilio Diniz suffered a terrible ordeal in December 1989, when he was kidnapped in Sao Paulo by a guerrilla group opposing the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile.
“He nourished a singular passion for France and one of its flagships, Carrefour, of which he was the unwavering ally,” greeted the CEO of Carrefour.
Abilio Diniz had been a significant shareholder of the Carrefour group since 2015, owning 8.83% of its shares at the end of 2022. He had served on its board of directors since 2016 and co-chaired its strategic committee.
The Moulin family, owner of the Galeries Lafayette department stores and largest shareholder of Carrefour, spoke on Monday of the “sincere friendship” and “the common passion for the challenges of mass distribution” shared by Abilio Diniz and Philippe Houzé, vice-president of board of directors of Carrefour and chairman of the management board of Galeries Lafayette.
Flavia Almeida, general director of Peninsula, and Eduardo Rossi, until now vice-president “and who will now assume the presidency”, will continue to represent the interests of the company within the Carrefour group.
The funeral wake takes place on Monday in a lounge at the stadium of Sao Paulo FC, his favorite football club.