Albert Frère to hand over the reins at Group Bruxelles Lambert in April

Albert Frère, Belgium’s richest man and chief executive of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, is to step down from the group he helped turn into Europe’s second largest holding company. The octogenarian will quit the family controlled GBL at its annual meeting in April.

Mr Frère, who is worth more than $4 billion, oversaw GBL’s evolution from a predominantly Belgium-facing business into a holder of some of France’s largest companies.

The change at the top had been planned for some time according to the board's vice-chairman Paul Desmarais, who represents the other family that controls GBL. Managing directors Ian Gallienne and Gérard Lamarche, who have run the company day-to-day since 2012, will continue to oversee the group.

A self-made man, Mr Frère made his riches by buying up steelmakers in the 1950s and 1960s.

According to the latest filings, GBL owns a fifth of the cement group Lafarge, and 7.5 per cent of Pernod Ricard. It also owns 3 per cent of Total, France's largest oil company – a byproduct of its merger with the former Belgian oil company Petrofina, in which GBL had a large stake. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2015