Is Pinault planning to sell Christie’s?

One of the world’s wealthiest business tycoons, the Frenchman Francois Pinault (pictured), may be in more of a financial squeeze than first thought. Following reports that he is thinking of selling off the renowned Chateau Latour vineyard for £200 million, it is now mooted that he might want to sell off his auction house, Christie’s, too.

Pinault, who is ranked ninth on the Forbes 2008 Rich List and is close to President Nicholas Sarkozy, bought Christie’s through his holding company Artemis for $1.2bn in 1998. According to a report in the London Evening Standard, two private equity groups are interested in the company, which like Sotheby's has been rocked by the recent collapse in prices for art.

In December, a sale of 20th-century British works fell well below the precedent set by the equivalent auction of 2007. Tellingly, the auction house released a statement before Christmas stating: "We do anticipate a reorganisation to be announced sometime in January".

An art world source told The First Post that any move to sell Christie's would be supported by Pinault's son, Francois-Henri Pinault, who is the CEO of the family retail chain, PPR, which owns Gucci, Puma and Converse among others.

"Francois-Henri does not see Christie's ever being particularly profitable. His father is obsessional about art, and has a huge collection with friends who are artists and dealers, but Francois-Henri is less interested and doesn't really understand the art world."