Cyril Bourlon de Rouvre

**Cyril Hubert Marie Bourlon de Rouvre** is a French businessman and politician born the 19th of December 1945 at Boulogne-Billancourt.

## Biography

After studies at the  _collège Maspero_ in Paris, then at the _collège Saint-Martin de France_ in Pontoise, at the Oratory School in Reading, at the _Collège Saint-Jean_ in Fribourg and at the _Lycée Janson-de-Sailly_, Cyril Bourlon de Rouvre study electrical engineering at _Jussieu_ before being graduate aerospace engineer at the _Institut polytechnique des sciences avancées_.

In 1979, at the death of his father, murdered by his valet, he inherits a large real estate holdings, a sugar refinery and 28 companies. He is CEO of _Financière Robur et de Cofragec_ (1982-1992), of _Coficine_ (1984-1992), of _Gestimage_ (1985-1992), of _Fabriques Sucre_ company (1987-1992), of _Robur DA_ (1988-1992), of SFDIC (1990-1992), general manager of _ Éditions Robur_ (1986-1992), of Elphora (1983-1992), of _Société Joyeux_ (1985-1992), of Vrille (1987-1992), of 3C (1988-1992) and of the _Films de La Tour_ (1989-1992).

In 1987, he started a new career into film distribution by acquiring, from the producer Robert Dorfmann, by one of its companies, the _Financière Robur_, Cofragec company with its catalog of 650 films including _La Grande Vadrouille_ or _La Vache et le Prisonnier_.

In 1989, he starts a political career in _Haute-Marne_, department where which his grandfather Charles de Rouvre was deputy during the French Third Republic. He is elected mayor of Chaumont, without political party against the centrist senator and mayor Georges Berchet, and regional councilor for the region Champagne-Ardenne (1992-1998).

Owner of the Formula 1 team AGS from March 1989 to 1991, he swallowed $18 million and began selling activities of his group, about 70 companies: First Transair, then the sugar factory, sold to the _Compagnie de Navigation Mixte_, and in 1992, the catalog movies, lent to UGC in the form of a merger. In 1991, he gives AGS the Italians Gabriele Rafanelli  and Patrizio Cantu.

In 1992, Cyril de Rouvre buys the Formula 1 team Guy Ligier for an estimated price of 200 million of francs. With his new owner, the team start again to be competitive and the 1993 season is a success, with a 5th place in the constructor rank (the best results since 1986). But the involvement of Cyril de Rouvre lasts only one season because of legal troubles.

The 14th of December 1993, the judge Eva Joly incarcerated him at the _Fleury-Mérogis_ Prison, as part of a complaint for fraud filed by the leaders of UGC, Guy Verrecchia and Alain Sussfeld, following the takeover in June 1992 the company Cofragec. This company has been emptied of its assets, leaving a liability estimated at 172.6 million francs. Cyril de Rouvre had promised to repay this sum at the end of 1992 but at that time, he still had 100 million. On 5 May 1993, leaders of UGC have filed a complaint against him. He spent two months in prison.

In early 1994, he sold Ligier to Flavio Briatore.

He lost the mayor of Chaumont at the French municipal elections of 1995.

In 1996, a judicial investigation was opened against him at the _Tribunal de grande instance_ of Chaumont. He appeared before the Criminal Court of this city in September 1999 for tax evasion. Knowing that the prosecution had asked him against three years imprisonment and 20-year ban on company management, he is sentenced the 19th of December 1999, date of his birthday, to 18 months imprisonment suspended and a ban from managing a company for 3 years and a fine large tax.

## Bibliography

- _Who's Who in France_, 2002-2003, Levallois-Perret, Jacques Lafitte Editions, 2002, p. 1648

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Cyril Bourlon de Rouvre
- **birth name**: Bourlon de Rouvre
- **birth date**: 19th of December 1945
- **birth place**: Boulogne-Billancourt
- **nationality**: France, French
- **citizenship**: France, French
- **known for**: Team principal Ligier Formula One Team
- **education**: Aerospace engineer
- **alma mater**: Lycée Janson-de-Sailly
 Institut polytechnique des sciences avancées
- **occupation**: Businessman and politician