PARIS: Margarita Louis-Dreyfus borrowed US$1 billion from Credit Suisse last year to buy out minority shareholders of Louis Dreyfus Company and pledged her majority stake in the commodities trader as collateral, a company filing showed.
She announced last January that she had completed the purchase of 16.6per cent of LDC's holding company from other family members, bringing her stake to around 96per cent. An annual filing by Akira B.V., which represents the family trust headed by Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, said it had borrowed US$1.03 billion from Credit Suisse Ltd on or about Jan. 25, 2019."In anticipation of the borrowing of the foregoing funds, the Company pledged all of its shares of LDHBV to Credit Suisse Ltd," Akira said in the company filing, which was made in the Netherlands on Dec. 31.The amount borrowed by Akira followed an agreement on Nov.
Dividends have offered some leverage for Margarita Louis-Dreyfus and LDC disclosed in its interim results that it had paid its biggest dividend in five years in 2019.