Family offices · France
Mulliez Family Office: How the AFM and Creadev Work
The Association Familiale Mulliez (AFM) is the body through which descendants of Louis Mulliez hold Auchan, Decathlon, Leroy Merlin, Kiabi, Boulanger and other companies; its president told the French National Assembly in May 2025 that this covers about 130 companies in more than 80 countries with over 620,000 employees. Creadev, set up by the family in 2002, says the capital it invests belongs to the family's entrepreneurs; it backs health, food and climate companies in Europe, Africa and the United States with up to €250 million a year. [1, 2]
At a glance
| Family | Mulliez family |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1955 |
| Headquarters | No official seat found; its companies' head offices are in the north of France |
| Run by | Barthélemy Guislain, president of the AFM management board (conseil de gérance) |
| Size | No public asset figure; about 130 companies and 620,000+ employees (May 2025) |
| Structure | Family shareholder association, not a legal group; Creadev as investment company |
| Known for | Auchan, Decathlon, Leroy Merlin, Kiabi; Creadev investments such as Voltalia |
How did the AFM start?
The family's model goes back to Louis Mulliez, a Roubaix industrialist whose business history began in 1905 and who built it on two pillars, company autonomy and solidarity between family members; from 1920 he encouraged his sons and sons-in-law to start their own companies, AFM president Barthélemy Guislain told the French National Assembly in May 2025. Creadev dates the founding of the association to 1955, and Guislain said employee share ownership was extended across AFM companies in 1976. The family founded Creadev in 2002. [1, 2]
Who runs the AFM?
Barthélemy Guislain is president of the AFM's management board (conseil de gérance), the title he gave before the French National Assembly in May 2025. According to AFP, as reported by FashionNetwork, he was first elected in 2014 and re-elected unanimously in May 2024 for five years by the board's nine members, who are elected by the association's family shareholders. At Creadev, Benoit Legrand is chairman and Bertrand Boré leads the teams, according to its website (viewed October 2026); Caroline Mulliez, whom Creadev describes as managing the Mulliez Family Association, and Séverine Tapié-Mulliez sit on its supervisory board. [1, 3, 4]
How big is the AFM?
No current figure for the AFM's total assets was found. Its president told the National Assembly in May 2025 that its companies employ over 620,000 people and that employees hold about €4 billion of their shares. AFP, as reported by FashionNetwork in May 2024, put the family's fortune at €20 billion and said Challenges ranked it France's eighth-richest family in 2023. Creadev says it invests up to €250 million a year, and its website lists €600 million invested in healthcare, €450 million in food and €60 million in climate companies, 26 companies in all (undated). [1, 2, 3]
Reported by the sources named, not confirmed by an official source.
What does the AFM invest in?
Each AFM company runs itself, and the only rule imposed on all of them is financial autonomy, in particular from banks and markets; about half the value created is reinvested in the same company and family dividends are about 1% of company value, Guislain told the National Assembly in May 2025. The companies he named include Auchan, Leroy Merlin, Decathlon, Kiabi, Boulanger, Flunch, Jules, Foundever, Voltalia, Groupe Maisons de Famille and Alinéa. Creadev invests in health, food and climate businesses with a long-term view, aims to back 5 to 10 companies a year, and names Maisons de Famille, Voltalia and Foundever among companies it has helped grow. [1, 2]
How is the AFM set up and regulated?
Guislain told the National Assembly that the AFM is not a group in the legal sense but a federation of autonomous companies with no statutory financial solidarity between them, and that no family member holds more than 10% of the capital or voting rights. In 2009 the French competition authority described the AFM's aim as ensuring a community of interest among Mulliez family members by setting a common shareholder strategy for the companies they invest in. Only descendants of Louis and Marguerite Mulliez and their spouses may hold shares, according to AFP. Creadev publishes its website from 1-2 rue Lulli in Paris and has offices in Paris, Lille, New York and Nairobi; its Africa team was created in 2017. [1, 3, 4, 5, 6]
What changed in 2025 and 2026?
Speaking to the National Assembly on 7 May 2025, Guislain said the AFM, as main shareholder, had received about €594 million from a distribution of about €1 billion of reserves in October 2024 (Decathlon's, as discussed at the hearing) and reinvested all of it: €266 million in Auchan, €105 million in Groupe Maisons de Famille, €15 million each in Alinéa and Flunch and €193 million to partly repay bank debt taken on to buy Decathlon shares. He also said Auchan had received €300 million about a year before the hearing. No change of AFM president was found in 2025 or 2026. [1]
