Montreal-born businesswoman Louise Blouin disputes information published in the American and Quebec media last week related to the sale of her luxurious property in the Hamptons near New York.
Mme Blouin denies being bankrupt and denies having “lost everything” as the New York Times (NYT) last Wednesday. The article was translated and published on Saturday in The Press, and its information was included the day before in The duty.
“I try not to talk too much to the media,” she explained in an interview with Duty granted Monday morning. I try to be fairly discreet. Now I am forced to speak. But the article from New York Times annoys me because it’s false. His allegations are incredible. »
She preceded the interview by sending a file including around ten files, including recent annotated articles. The NYT reporter had spoken to him twice before his own publication. The duty had requested an interview, in vain, last Thursday.
The crux of the M protestme Blouin concerns the recent US$89 million auction of La Dune, a large Hamptons property. She maintains that this sale does not arise from a bankruptcy as such, but from Chapter 11 of the American bankruptcy law, which allows companies to reorganize under the protection of this same law.
“These are investment companies which are concerned: I am not personally involved in this process”, repeats Mme Blouin. She specifies that, if she intervened alone in the Hamptons court, which validated the auction on February 13, it is because the judge unexpectedly questioned her. His two companies were represented by lawyers.
She adds that loans on the Hamptons property now stand at about $41 million, while La Dune was worth between $130 million and $150 million according to broker valuations. “We are also in the process of distributing the profits made with the transaction after payment of the debt on the property […] It must be said, 89 million is still a lot of money, and it’s better than nothing, and we were all happy with this result. On the other hand, we were not happy that a reserve price had not been set before the auction, but that’s another story. »
“Predators”
She strongly criticizes the creditors against whom Chapter 11 was invoked. She speaks of “predators”, who allegedly charged her 200% interest, and even interest on interest, which is illegal. Legal challenges are brewing.
These lenders would have entered the deal at a time when it needed to make a mortgage “bridge” to enable the realization of a promise to purchase 130 million, which failed shortly before the pandemic. La Dune was paid ten times less (13.5 million) in 1998.
The Blouin family hardly used it anymore. “It was an investment,” explains Louise Blouin. I buy and sell properties. The kids no longer live in the United States and neither do I. I live a little in Switzerland, a little in Paris, a little in England and then a little in Quebec. »
Mme Blouin also sent to Duty a document listing real estate transactions by his company Atlas Real Estate Fund in London, Paris and New York. The gross profits listed total nearly US$400 million. “I have several projects in Europe or New York. I’m even looking at a project in Montreal. »
His company Blouin Artinfo, heir to a prolonged foray into art magazines, still exists. We are working there on the digitization of a bank on the prices of works of art dating back to 1910. The Louise Blouin Foundation, forced to stop during the pandemic, should soon relaunch its activities, promises its creator, who herself is working on writing his memoirs.
Louise Blouin was born in Dorval. After studying at McGill, she co-founded Auto Hebdo, which became the basis of an international used car classifieds empire. Louise Blouin appeared for years on the list of the richest women in the world.