| Alain Taravella | |
| Birth Place: | Falaise, Calvados, France |
| Alma Mater: | HEC Paris |
| Occupation: | Businessman |
Alain Taravella (born 24 May 1948) is a French entrepreneur, billionaire and the co-founder, chairman and CEO of the Altarea SCA real estate group.[1]
Taravella graduated from HEC Paris in 1971. He claims to have financed his studies by carrying out real estate operations on the sale of apartments in Parly.[2]
In 1975, he joined the Brémond group, a real estate development company, where he became head of the leisure division. The group became Pierre & Vacances in 1978, a company specialized in leisure centers. Taravella became CEO in 1985.[3]
In 1994, he founded Altarea, a shopping center development company. He took advantage of the downturn in the real estate market in the early 1990s to acquire land in droves.[4] In 1999, he worked on the Bercy Village development project, which Altarea marketed.[5] The company was listed on the stock exchange in 2004 and in 2007 acquired Cogedim, a real estate developer of housing and offices.
In 2010, after selling the Saint-Georges shopping center in Toulouse to the German Commerz Real,[6] he led the acquisition of Cap 3000, one of the oldest and most important regional shopping centers in France, in Saint-Laurent-du-Var.[7] In 2011, he led the acquisition by Cogedim Altarea of the RueDuCommerce shopping site, which was finally sold to Carrefour in 2016.[8] [9]
According to Forbes, Taravella retains 45% ownership of Altarea SCA and has an estimated net worth of $2 billion, making him the 1580th richest person in the world.[10]