Cyril Bourlon de Rouvre facts for kids

Cyril Bourlon de Rouvre, born on December 19, 1945, in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, is a French businessman and politician. He is also known for being a former owner of a Formula 1 racing team.

Early Life and Education

Cyril Bourlon de Rouvre grew up in a family involved in industry. His father, Évrard Bourlon de Rouvre, was an industrialist. Cyril was set to inherit sugar refineries and land from his family.

He attended several schools, including Collège Maspero in Paris and the Oratory School in England. He also studied at Collège Saint-Jean in Fribourg and Lycée Janson-de-Sailly in Paris. Later, he went to Sorbonne University to study electrical engineering. He also studied aerospace engineering at the Institut polytechnique des sciences avancées.

First Jobs and Experience

After finishing his university studies, Cyril Bourlon de Rouvre worked at Électricité de France, a large electricity company. He then completed his national service.

He gained experience in various roles, including:

• Technical sales engineer at Elliot Automation (1966–1968)
• Director of Export at Sucre Union company (1971–1973)
• Sales director and audiovisual sales agent at Lara audiovisuel (1973–1975)
• Associate director at Auto Racing (1977)

Business and Film Career

In 1979, Cyril Bourlon de Rouvre inherited many businesses and properties after his father passed away. These included real estate, a sugar refinery, and 28 different companies.

In 1981, he took charge of Fraissinet, a company that owned Transair, an airline for businesses. He also led other companies like Financière Robur et de Cofragec and Coficine. He worked to make the sugar refinery more modern.

Entering the Film World

In 1987, he started working in the film industry. He bought a company called Cofragec, which had a collection of over 650 films. Some famous movies in this collection included La Grande Vadrouille and La Vache et le Prisonnier.

He also helped produce several movies, such as:

• La Nuit bengali (1988)
• Les Deux Fragonard (1989)
• La Peste (1992)

Besides films, he invested in real estate, like a hotel in Tahiti. In his free time, he enjoyed rallying cars with his friend Thierry Sabine.

Political Involvement

In 1989, Cyril Bourlon de Rouvre began a career in politics. He ran for mayor in Chaumont, a town where his grandfather had been a Member of Parliament. He won the election as an independent candidate.

He also became a regional councillor for Champagne-Ardenne, serving from 1992 to 1998. During this time, he hired Luc Chatel, who was 25 years old, to join his team as a municipal councillor.

Formula 1 Team Ownership

Between March 1989 and 1991, Cyril Bourlon de Rouvre owned the Formula 1 team AGS. He invested a lot of money into the team.

Later, he started selling some of his companies, including Transair and the sugar refinery. In 1991, he sold the AGS Formula 1 team.

Ligier Team Ownership

In 1992, he bought another Formula 1 team called Ligier. The team had not been doing well in previous years. However, under his ownership, the team had a successful season in 1993. They finished 5th in the Constructors' Championships, which was their best result since 1986.

Cyril Bourlon de Rouvre had to sell the Ligier team in early 1994 due to some challenges he faced. The team was sold to Flavio Briatore. In 1995, he ran for mayor of Chaumont again but did not win reelection.