VSIt is undoubtedly from Italy that the salvation of the Dutch giant Philips will come, mired since 2021 in a scandal following the serious malfunction of some of its sleep apnea treatment devices. By announcing, on Sunday August 13, an agreement with Exor, the holding company majority-owned by the Agnelli family, the group in full restructuring sees the end of the tunnel.
Exor spent 2.6 billion euros to hold 15% of the capital of Royal Philips. This is the first time in 132 years that a foreign shareholder has held such a large share in Eindhoven society. “We conducted many discussions to get to know each other, we did not want to collaborate with an exotic shareholder who would have abandoned us in the short term”explained, in the daily NRCFeike Sijbesma, chairman of the board of the Dutch group.
The agreement ” friendly ” concluded between the two parties a priori protects Philips from the hostile raid that it could fear given its fragility: its share, which was worth nearly 50 euros at the start of 2021, fell to 12 euros in the spring; Frans van Houten, the boss of the group, was dismissed in 2022; the ongoing restructuring has already cost 1,000 of the 11,000 employees in the Netherlands their jobs.
weight support
Not everything is settled, however, given in particular the threat posed by lawyers mobilized in the United States to obtain compensation for their clients. Two years ago, Philips had to recall respirators after announcing that their users risked inhaling, or swallowing, pieces of toxic sound-absorbing foam that could cause long-term cancer. In April, and for the second time, the powerful American Food and Drug Administration expressed its fears as to the consequences of the use of these devices.
However, Philips management is counting on a favorable outcome, or one with limited effects. According to her, he is now ” unlikely “, given the latest tests carried out, that the devices have caused harm to patients. The Dutch leaders say they are in any case capable of achieving the financial objectives that they have dangled to the shareholders: a turnover of 18 billion euros this year, and 21 billion in 2026.
John Elkann, the heir to the Agnelli empire and the main manager of the investment fund Exor, which manages a portfolio of some 33 billion euros, will in any case be a strong support for Roy Jakobs, the new managing director. of Philips, inducted in October 2022. The new boss intends to continue the group’s reorientation towards research and technologies in the health sector by betting on the growing demand for care, linked in particular to the aging of the population.
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