23 July 2018

FRANCE 24 English: Global crowdfunding campaign buys French château

With a price of 50 euros per share, they managed to raise 1.6 million euros, 900,000 euros more than the amount the owner was asking.“This extra money will allow us to begin the preservation work this autumn,” said Julien Macquis, founder of Adopte un Chateâu and one of Mothe-Chandeniers’ new co-owners. [...]

For many of its new co-owners, it was the images of Mothe-Chandeniers published on the internet that made them decide to buy part of it. “I saw a video of the castle filmed by a drone and it was love at first sight,” said Maud. Such videos and photos went viral, giving the château international fame and prompting people from countries like China, South Africa, the US and Germany to buy a share.[...]

The acquisition of the castle might have been a huge crowdfunding success. But that was the easy part. Marquis now has to manage the castle – along with its 27,000 owners. A historian by profession, he must also take on the role of business leader. “There will be a board of directors to make the day-to-day decisions, and the co-owners will vote on the big issues through an online platform,” he says.[...]

There will inevitably be disagreements. Marquis does not expect the 27,000 owners to make unanimous decisions; ergo, a simple majority will be enough to decide on most issues. But he is confident that all co-owners have the same general vision for the château’s future. Notably, none of those interviewed by FRANCE 24 want to restore the building’s original appearance.

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