Chalus Chegaray & Cie

Chalus Chegaray & Cie

Founded in Le Havre in 1890 by Antonio Chegaray, the great-grandfather of the current president, the group originally concentrated its capital in insurance. The defining liquidity event came in 1997, when the family sold the maritime insurance agency Chegaray Chalus. That sale reset the family's investment strategy — shifting from a single-industry focus toward a diversified holding company model now managed by Vianney de Chalus alongside the next generation of family members on the board, including Directrice générale Natalie de Chalus and administrators Arthur, Elvire, and Alain Chegaray. Today the office pursues majority stakes in operating businesses across hospitality, congress organization, industrial services, and trading. Its minority book spans digital startups, more established companies undergoing digital transformation, and commitments to private equity funds. A listed-securities sleeve rounds out the allocation. The firm seeks management teams that are autonomous and competent, with reliable, simple management tools, and it emphasizes transparent investor relations. It invests at all stages and looks for long-term positions. Sector targets include enterprise software, SaaS, technology, and sports and leisure, with a geographic scope that reaches from Normandy across France and internationally. Vianney de Chalus — an HEC Paris alumnus — maintains deep regional institutional ties. He was named president of Normandie Attractivité, the regional economic development agency, in January 2022, and also serves as president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Normandy. The family holding is a corporate patron of MuMa, the André Malraux Museum of Modern Art in Le Havre, and participates in the museum's patrons' circle. Those civic roles extend the Chegaray name beyond the investment portfolio into the cultural and economic fabric of Normandy. The hybrid architecture defines the firm. It acts as a long-term majority shareholder in tangible operating businesses, yet simultaneously scouts early-stage digital ventures and commits to outside funds — a dual-track model more common in European industrial families than in coastal tech-focused offices. By anchoring itself in Le Havre rather than a financial capital, and by seating multiple generations on the board, the office layers regional influence, patient capital, and a permanent-family-capital timeline over a portfolio that others would split across three separate entities.