Belgium a 17b euro tax haven for France's richest entrepreneurs: report

France's wealthiest entrepreneurs hold around €17 billion (HK$168 billion) in neighbouring Belgium where taxes are lower, according to a French newspaper report.

While some have had Belgian bases for many years, a wave of fiscal exiles have gone north since Francois Hollande became president in 2012, the financial paper L'Echo claimed.

Its lists of exiles includes Bernard Arnault, head of the luxury goods group LVMH and France's richest man; media mogul Stephane Courbit; businessman and former government minister Bernard Tapie; and the Mulliez family, which controls the Auchan supermarket chain.

L'Echo also listed the Bongrain family, head of France's second-biggest cheese company, which set up a holding company in Brussels in 1988; the Besnier family, founders of the milk product company Lactalis; and the Savare family, whose Oberthur Technologies group is a world leader in secure printing.

The youngest son of the Decaux publicity family also has a holding company in Belgium, according to the paper, as does the Heriard-Dubreuil family, which made its fortune in spirits.

L'Echo claimed that almost 20 of France's richest 100 people had invested part of their wealth in Belgium. When it extended its research to the top 500, it found that many more were either living in or setting up holding companies in Belgium, involving €17 billion in assets and investments.