After short-term residences and student residences, Patrice Cavalier has created a “chain” of luxury hotels, as in Saint-Barthélemy, discreetly sheltered in Luxembourg. (Photo: Shutterstock)

After short-term residences and student residences, Patrice Cavalier has created a “chain” of luxury hotels, as in Saint-Barthélemy, discreetly sheltered in Luxembourg. (Photo: Shutterstock)

At the beginning of November, Patrice Cavalier, a successful real estate developer who is close to entering the circle of the 500 biggest French fortunes, registered his new company in Luxembourg--an ultra-luxury hotel chain.

There are no photos of Patrice Cavalier on Google and only few articles that mention his name. This summer he reluctantly gave two interviews, admitting that he hates speaking to reporters. 

In more than 25 years, Cavalier has patiently built his business on three pillars: Océanis Promotion for real estate development; Appart'City which he bought with Equinoxe Partners for €100m in 2014 to manage the flats sold by Océanis Promotion to small investors; and ECLA Campus, student residences that have suffered as the pandemic sent many tenants back to their parents’ homes.

At the end of 2018, the man who had raised Océanis Promotion to 10th place among French property developers sold part of his company to one of the Luxembourg entities of Brookfield Asset Management for €120m. Although it claims to have retained 10% of the shares, the annual report of the Luxembourg subsidiary of the Canadian investment fund indicates that it has sold all of them. 

In 2020, , the entrepreneur with 150 residences in his portfolio, 1,700 employees and 27,000 accommodation units generated a turnover of €400m, as much as Docler Holding’s adult streaming service LiveJasmin, even if less publicised.

From Luxembourg, the millionaire is now managing one of his new ideas, 369 degrés, a (small) network of ultra-luxury hotels, which he has entrusted to a compatriot from the Montpellier region, the former basketball player Julien Sormonte.

The hotels include Saint Amour La Tartane in Saint-Tropez, the Château de Montvillargenne next to the Chantilly racecourse, the Écrin Blanc Resort in Courchevel, the Chalet Alpen Valley Mont-Blanc in Combloux, L'Arboisie in Megève, and the Tropical Hotel & Beach in Saint-Barthélemy.

Cavalier's holding company Human Performance Capital manages the “boutique-hotel division” 369 degrés, has a development-land reserve division with the Courchevel site, but also two other reserves in Megève and Alpen, and a shareholding division, consisting of the 17% acquired in 2017 in the French energy company Arkolia.

The real estate developer has two new ideas. Retirement homes in the sun in southern Europe. And the construction of “green” residences, for which he created HPC Green Energy in Montpellier in mid-December 2020.

At the beginning of November, Cavalier who initially specialised in multi-apartment structures registered a new company in Luxembourg, the 15th with which he is closely or remotely associated: “Compagnie d'hôtels et d'investissement créatif”. We don't know what he wants to do with it, but he is never short of ideas.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.