Family Office

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Solina Group

Jacques Veyrat established Solina Group after the landmark sale of Neuf Cegetel, the French telecom he led as CEO, to SFR in 2008.

Solina Group

Jacques Veyrat established Solina Group after the landmark sale of Neuf Cegetel, the French telecom he led as CEO, to SFR in 2008. The transaction yielded roughly €4.5 billion and cemented Veyrat's transition from corporate operator to private investor. Rather than defaulting to a standard multi-asset family office, he structured Solina as a permanent-holdings vehicle, concentrating capital into a small number of operating businesses and physical assets. Solina's investment posture spans asset-heavy industrial energy, prestige real estate, and consumer brands. Its most prominent holding is a controlling stake in Neoen, the French renewable-energy developer Veyrat co-founded in 2008 before its 2018 Euronext IPO and subsequent 2024 take-private by Brookfield at an enterprise valuation of €6.1 billion (per Bloomberg, 2024). The portfolio also includes Immobilière Dassault, a listed Parisian real-estate company known for trophy office and residential assets in prime arrondissements, and a minority position in S.T. Dupont, the luxury-lighter and pen manufacturer. The group favors direct, illiquid positions structured as long-duration equity. The Solina Group operates from Paris and remains tightly controlled by Veyrat. Team size is not publicly disclosed but is built around a core of long-tenured executives who manage the individual holding-company silos. May 2024: Brookfield completed its acquisition of Neoen at €39.85 per share, generating a substantial liquidity event for Solina Group though Veyrat maintained a reinvested minority exposure (per Neoen, May 2024). Solina's architecture is purely proprietary — it does not invite external co-investors, does not operate as a multi-family office, and reports no limited-partner fund structures. The group's structural distinction lies in its operator-rooted governance. Unlike financial allocators, Veyrat installs Solina executives as chairmen and board members within the controlled companies, running them as a portfolio of industrial subsidiaries rather than as passive minority stakes. This operator-as-owner model originated in telecom and was directly transplanted into renewables, real estate, and luxury manufacturing, creating a governance layer that most family offices do not replicate.

General information

Firm type

Family Office

Year founded

AUM

€1 billion – €5 billion (Altss estimate)

Location

Region

Europe

Country

France

City

Paris

Corporate office

Paris, France

Principals

Jacques Veyrat

Founder

Sector focus

Energy Transition & RenewablesReal EstateLuxuryIndustrial TechFinTech

Frequently asked questions

Who makes investment decisions at Solina Group?

Jacques Veyrat is the sole principal and final decision-maker. He brings an operator's lens, having served as CEO of Neuf Cegetel before selling it to SFR in 2008. Stewardship of key positions, including Neoen and Immobilière Dassault, is executed through long-term Solina-appointed board members who run each holding more like a subsidiary than a passive portfolio position.

How does Solina Group source opportunities, and does it co-invest?

Solina sources deals through Veyrat's deep French industrial network rather than through a formal third-party pipeline. It does not operate as a co-investor alongside external GPs nor does it syndicate its own positions; Solina is a purely proprietary balance-sheet investor. Opportunities tend to arise from corporate carve-outs, public-to-private transactions like the 2018 creation of Immobilière Dassault, and platform builds where Veyrat can install his own management.

Is Solina Group a single family office or an industrial holding company?

It functions as both. Legally it is a single-family office managing the Veyrat fortune, but its permanent-holdings posture — retaining control stakes indefinitely and inserting Solina operators into board-level governance — makes it resemble an industrial conglomerate. Limiting fundraising, no third-party reporting, and an all-direct portfolio reinforce the family-office character.

What is Solina Group's connection to Neoen?

Jacques Veyrat co-founded Neoen in 2008, the same year he sold Neuf Cegetel. Over the next sixteen years, Solina Group was Neoen's controlling shareholder, leading the renewable developer through a 2018 IPO on Euronext Paris valued at approximately €1.4 billion. In May 2024, Brookfield acquired a majority position and took Neoen private at a €6.1 billion valuation; Veyrat reinvested a minority stake alongside Brookfield.

Does Solina invest in venture or growth-stage companies?

Solina's history shows minimal venture-stage exposure. It targets mature, asset-heavy or brand-heavy businesses where control can be established — renewable infrastructure, prime real estate, and legacy manufacturing heritage like S.T. Dupont. Early-stage tech is absent from its disclosed holdings.

How is Solina Group's wealth separated from its philanthropic or family structures?

No independent philanthropic foundation is publicly associated with Solina Group or Jacques Veyrat, although standard French family-office inheritance structures are presumed. Solina operates as a single holding entity without a publicly marketed DAF or multi-generational family foundation, keeping a low profile relative to the size of its asset base.

What is Solina's known posture on secondary-market sales or liquidity windows?

Solina Group prefers indefinite holds but has demonstrated willingness to accept full-enterprise liquidity when the price reflects a long-duration asset's terminal value, as seen in the Brookfield take-private of Neoen. The simultaneous reinvestment of a minority stake in that deal signals Veyrat prioritizes ongoing influence over clean exits.

Profile maintained by using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.

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