Société Financière de l’Arno (SFA) was created in 2004 as a single-family office by the shareholders of Club Français du Livre (a French publisher founded in 1946) who chose Belgium as their common base. SFA’s investment activities were originally run by Alain Aubry who had successfully led the expansion of the publishing activities of the Club Français du Livre into a membership model “Le Grand Livre du Mois” and “Encyclopaeadia Universalis” which published top-of-the line French language encyclopaedias, first in volumes, and, from the 1990’s in electronic format. Both were sold in July 2005. The Club Français du Livre remains a subsidiary of SFA and now invests in early-stage and growth ventures.
From 1997 to 2012, Alain Aubry also served as chairman of the mid-cap private equity firm LBO France.
Vanessa Aubry, CFA is currently the only family member on the board of directors since her father, Alain, stepped down in 2016.
Since its inception in 2004 SFA has developed two main activities: equity investing (public and private) and management and consulting services for its subsidiaries.