Russian-Swiss billionaire continues to replenish her Dutch piggy bank

This article was last updated on December 6, 2024

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Russian-Swiss billionaire continues to replenish her Dutch piggy bank

The Russian-Swiss multi-billionaire Margarita Louis-Dreyfus saw the assets of her Dutch piggy bank increase again by hundreds of millions. The income of the Amsterdam BV comes from the proceeds of one of the largest concerns in the commodity trade: Louis Dreyfus.

Together with four other major trading houses (ADM, Bunge, Cofco and Cargill), Louis Dreyfus controls almost the entire global grain trade. It is also a major player in trading in rice, coffee, cotton and sugar, among other things.

Invisibly rich trading houses

What are the companies with the highest turnover in the Netherlands? Names such as Louis Dreyfus, Gunvor or Trafigura will not be mentioned immediately, but these commodity traders have been at the Dutch top for years. Oil trading house Vitol has been leading in terms of turnover for three years largest company of the Netherlands.

They are so unknown because they are not listed on the stock exchange. As a result, they have to share far fewer figures with the general public, unlike other Dutch giants such as Ahold Delhaize or ASML.

The often summary annual reports of these Dutch BVs are important insights into the world of trading billions.

In April last year, Louis Dreyfus stopped exporting grain from Russia and the assets there were sold at a loss. Nevertheless, the flag could be raised at the head office in Rotterdam. The total turnover amounted to around 50 billion dollars (48 billion euros).

Turnover was therefore slightly lower than a year earlier, but the profit that remained was higher: 1 billion dollars, compared to 770 million in 2022.

Debt free

The numbers will delight Margarita Louis-Dreyfus. After the death of her husband Robert in 2009, she inherited more than 60 percent of the shares of trading house Louis Dreyfus. In the following years she expanded her property. She bought up shares from other family members. Step by step she arrived at a ownership of 96 percent.

Louis-Dreyfus owns the shares through Amsterdam’s Akira BV. To finance the purchases, she borrowed $1 billion through her company from the Swiss bank Credit Suisse in 2019. Akira paid off that debt in steps with the income from commodity trading.

Last year the company paid back the last 229 million, according to a recently published report annual report. In addition, equity increased by almost 800 million euros.

Increasingly less insightful

Akira’s annual reports have become less and less transparent in recent years. Previously they were about ten pages, including information about the profit distributions from Louis Dreyfus. This information is no longer made public. There are six pages left with just a balance sheet.

Akira could not be reached for comment. The company operator referred to Louis Dreyfus Holding. The phone was not answered there.