Loïc Féry
Loïc Féry (born March 15, 1974) is a French businessman. He founded the investment firm Chenavari in 2007 and became the owner of Football Club Lorient in 2009.[1]
Career
Féry was born in Nancy, France. He grew up in Pont-à-Mousson, also in the Lorraine region, where his parents were teachers; his father taught physical education and his mother mathematics. He obtained a Bac C (science baccalaureate). He attended Lycée du Parc in Lyon and HEC Paris.[2]
Féry worked as a financial trader in Hong Kong and London before founding Chenavari. In 2020, Chenavari managed $5 billion in assets. He considered buying OGC Nice, Nîmes Olympique, Grenoble Foot 38, or Sheffield Wednesday before acquiring FC Lorient in 2009. The Nice offer in 2001 was made with a Korean business partner but was rejected due to a lack of transparency, while the president of Nîmes changed his mind after the club was promoted to Ligue 2, and Sheffield Wednesday was deemed too expensive and risky for Féry. In 2012, Lorient was the only Ligue 1 club that was debt-free.[3]
At the end of 2012, Féry was elected chairman of the board of the Ligue de Football Professionnel. In July 2018, he and Francis Graille of AJ Auxerre were elected co-presidents of the same organization for Ligue 2 clubs.
Personal Life
Féry's wife, Olivia Féry, born Olivia Gravereaux, was a professional tennis player who also represented Hong Kong during her time there. Their son, Arthur Fery, became a professional tennis player under his British nationality.[4]