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Deceuninck scions get out of Deceuninck | The time

Willy and Arnold Deceuninck sell their interest in the company. With the trip, the family seems to have almost completely loosened its grip on Deceuninck.

The two family members hold 3.9 and 3.1 percent respectively through the companies Allacha and Evalli. They sell the shares through a private placement with Belgian and foreign institutional investors.

The two packages are worth 36.5 million euros together. Taking into account a discount in the placements, the two will probably cash in on around 35 million euros.

The share is currently at the highest level since 2008. This year the share already made a jump of 85 percent. The company currently has a market capitalization of 520 million euros.

Sons of the godfathers

Willy (77) and Arnold (71) never had an operational role in the company, but they served on the board for a long time as the sons of the ‘godfathers’ Michel and Roger. The two built the company – which started as a coach company with trips to Lourdes and the production of, among other things, plastic hair combs – into a major player in the world of PVC windows.

The share transaction means that Frank Deceuninck, who long ago broke away from the family out of dissatisfaction, is the last of the founding family to remain as the major shareholder with a 5 percent stake. Other family members probably also have packages, but because they do not exceed the threshold of 3 percent, they have no obligation to declare their interest.

Chronicle of announced trip

The family influence in the listed Deceuninck had systematically eroded over the years, both operationally and financially. First through the company’s IPO in 1985, later through the entry of the Walloon holding company Sofina (2006) and then when West Flemish investor Francis Van Eeckhout came into the picture and became a major shareholder and CEO.

At that time, Willy Deceuninck already stepped aside as director and Van Eeckhout and his wife Benedikte Boone were given a seat in the boardroom. In 2005 Arnold also called it quits and was replaced by his daughter Evelyn Deceuninck, a physiotherapist and entrepreneur in the transport sector.

Earlier this week, Van Eeckhout announced that he would stop as CEO. He passed the torch to Bekaert veteran Bruno Humblet who had been a director for nine months. He is tasked with taking the company to ‘the next level’. ‘I’m leaving as CEO now, but the job isn’t done yet,’ said Van Eeckhout.

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