AXA have also offered to take a minority stake in each of Drouot’s 74 études (auction firms), worth the equivalent of 20 per cent of the State compensation (based on individual turnover) received for the loss of their monopoly in the wake of France’s recent auction reform.
AXA say their offer is open until the end of April, but Drouot Président Dominique Ribeyre refuses to be rushed. He told the Antiques Trade Gazette that the city’s commissaires-priseurs would probably meet in May to examine the various offers, adding languidly: “It’s nice to be wanted. Our situation is not unpleasant. A fortnight or so won’t make any difference.”
Ribeyre said he was uncertain whether the city’s auctioneers would want to sell at all, as he “didn’t detect a majority one way or the other” at the moment. He also revealed that Drouot had received several unpublicised offers for a “30-35% minority shareholding” and this was another possibility that would be considered. But he ruled out the prospect of the lucrative Gazette de l’Hôtel Drouot being sold separately, insisting “the Gazette is in the family and the family is united!”
Now AXA bid £51m for the Drouot
The AXA insurance group have joined the battle for Drouot with an offer believed to be worth €82m (£51m), comfortably exceeding the €69m (£43m) proposed by Barclays Private Equity and the €64m (£40m) by ABN-Amro earlier this year.
