Italian investment fund Exor becomes largest Philips shareholder

Italian investment fund Exor recently bought up a 15 percent stake in Philips. The fund invested a sum of 2.6 billion euros in the Dutch company.

Exor is the investment fund of the well-known Italian entrepreneurial Agnelli family, founders and owners of Fiat and shareholder of such brands as Ferrari, Iveco, Stellantis (the Fiat, Chrysler, Peugeot and Opel groups), agricultural machinery group CNH, several newspapers and magazines and the football club Juventus. Exor is headquartered at the Zuidas CBD in Amsterdam.

More activity in health technology sector

By acquiring a 15 percent stake in Philips, the investment fund wants to become more active in the healthcare and technology sector. With the acquired stake, Exor is now also the largest shareholder in the Dutch tech company.

Exor will have the right to nominate its own commissioner to Philips’ supervisory board. The investor will act as a minority shareholder and will invest in Philips in the longer term. It has been agreed that the total stake will never exceed 20 percent.

Philips’ reaction

Philips welcomes Exor’s investment and sees it as a good step for its own strategy for its health and technology business and further boosting sales.

In addition, the company indicates that Exor and the Agnelli family made a good study of the health technology group and made the investment decision on that basis. For Philips, this indicates that the investment fund has confidence in the company.

Exor is familiar with Philips’ recent sleep apnea affair, but has seen no cause to refrain from investing further. According to the Italian investment company, one detail has not been important, but is seen more in Philips’ overall performance and transition to a health technology company.