The family of Italian billionaire Agnelli has increased its stake in Royal Philips NV, giving it a stake worth $4.19 billion, in a sign of increased confidence in the Dutch medical device manufacturer.
Agnellis’ Exor NV now owns 17.51% of Philips, according to a U.S. regulatory filing late Tuesday. It owned 16.1% as of May 16 and was already the company’s largest shareholder.
Exor is the holding company of the Agnelli family, which founded Italian carmaker Fiat. It took a 15% stake in Philips in 2023 when it started Diversification In healthcare, technology, financial services and luxury goods. The deal gave Exor the ability to increase its stake in the manufacturer of ventilators and ECG devices to 20%.
The increased investment in Philips indicates more confidence in the Dutch company, which in April Settlement Claims in the United States linked to defective sleep apnea devices. Philips in recent years has been on the move to recall sleep therapy machines over concerns about disintegration of noise-cancelling foam that patients inhale.
Exor has acquired an additional 19.5 million Philips shares for about 481 million euros ($514 million), according to a filing Tuesday. It spent about 3.3 billion euros in total to buy its stake in Philips.
Late last year, Exor CEO John Elkann expressed confidence that Philips’ safety issues could be solved. Looking to the future, he said at the time that Exor “needs to make sure that the relationship with Philips goes well, and of course with the opportunity to invest further.”
An Exor spokesman said in emailed comments that the stake increase is in line with agreements reached in the summer of 2023. The company is the largest shareholder in Fiat, Jeep Stellantis, supercar maker Ferrari, soccer club Juventus and The Economist Group.
Philips did not provide additional comment and referred to its original announcement in 2023. Philips shares rose as much as 3.3% in Amsterdam and are up 20% this year.