François Perrodo


François Hubert Marie Perrodo is a French billionaire businessman, racing driver, and car collector. He is the chairman of Perenco, an oil and gas company with operations in 14 countries, which was founded by his father. In October 2023, Forbes estimated his family to be worth US$10 billion.

Biography

Origin

François Perrodo was born on 14 February 1977 in Singapore. He is the son of Carrie and Hubert Perrodo, French businessman and founder of the oil group Perenco.

Education

François Perrodo has a degree in physics from St Peter's College, Oxford, where he captained the University polo team in 1999. He is now a member of Guards Polo Club.
After an engineering degree in 2002 from the École Nationale Supérieure du Pétrole et des Moteurs now called IFP School, he received an MBA from INSEAD in Singapore.

Business

Perrodo is the president of the Franco-British Perenco, an oil and gas corporation specialized in secondary recovery from wells the major oil companies have ceased to exploit. He has acquired significant real estate using shell companies in offshore tax havens.

Diversification

As of January 2025, the Perrodo family is diversifying its investments into luxury real estate, diamonds, and clothing. This shift aims to reduce reliance on hydrocarbons and explore new asset classes. Recent filings reveal their acquisitions include a $21 million office and apartment block in New York's SoHo and upscale properties in Spain, alongside ventures in packaged Italian food.
Francois Perrodo, the family's chairman, leads these investments through their London-based family office BNF Capital and private equity firm Perwyn Advisors. The family is also involved in battery metals, uranium, and vineyards.

Car collection

Perrodo maintains a large collection of historically significant automobiles and is one of the most prolific French car collectors. He keeps cars in both France and the United Kingdom. Perrodo shares photos and stories of his cars and his racing career on his Instagram account.
The collection includes:
The collection used to include the following, which have since been sold:

Racing driver

Perrodo is a motorsport enthusiast, having started racing classic cars in 2010.
He has competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, driving for AF Corse in the LMP2 class until 2022, having initially competed in the GTE Am class from 2013 until 2016.
He has taken part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, V de V Series, Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, United SportsCar Championship and the 24 Hours Series. In the 2025 season he is driving an LMP2 car for AF Corse in the European Le Mans Series
Perrodo was involved in a controversial incident when driving AF Corse's No. 83 LMP2 entry in the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans. While running side-by-side with the GTE-Pro class leading No. 64 Corvette of Alexander Sims in the final hours of the race, Perrodo swerved sharply left and sent the Corvette crashing into the barriers in the middle of the Mulsanne Straight. AF Corse's No. 51 GTE-Pro entry was running second in class at the time and went on to inherit the class lead from the Corvette.

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

YearTeamClassCarEngine123456789101112RankPointsRef
2015AF CorseGTLMFerrari 458 Italia GT2Ferrari F142 4.5 L V8DAY
10		SEBLBHLGAWGLMOSELKVIRCOAPET27th22
2017EBIMOTORSGTDLamborghini Huracán GT3Lamborghini 5.2L V10DAY
9		SEBLBHCOADETWGLMOSLIMELKVIRLGAPET65th22
2023AF CorseLMP2Oreca 07Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8DAY
3		SEB
MON
WGL
ELK
IMSPET
4		24th306
2026AF CorseLMP2Oreca 07Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8DAY
13		SEB
WGL
MOS
ELK
IMS
PET
**

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