Jacky Lorenzetti is the billionaire owner of Racing Metro who made his fortune in real estate.

Lorenzetti set up his estate agency, Foncia, in 1972 and is now estimated to own over 1,000,000 properties. He floated Foncia on the French stock exchange in 2001 and when he decided to get into rugby five years later it was estimated that his fortune was somewhere in the region of €700 million.

Upon immediately installing himself as club president Lorenzetti outlined ambitious plans to have the then second division outfit competing in the Heineken Cup by 2011. He realised his dream a year ahead of schedule but his tenure was not without its disappointments.

Racing only managed to finish 11th in the Pro D2 in 2007 and they missed out on promotion to the top flight the following season after a shock play-off final defeat to Mont-de-Marsan. However, they destroyed all before them during the 2008-2009 campaign and finished a staggering 30 points clear of second-placed Agen.

Lorenzetti continued to pump money into the side and managed to persuade Springboks Francois Steyn and Jacques Cronje and French internationals Lionel Nallet and Sebastien Chabal to make the move to Colombes.

Lorenzetti's lavish outlay on high-profile players paid off, with the club finishing sixth in their first season back in the big time. They suffered a first-round exit at the hands of eventual champions Clermont in the end-of-season play-offs but that blow was cushioned by their qualification for the 2010/2011 Heineken Cup. Just four years after assuming control of the club, Lorenzetti had established Racing as one of the top sides in European rugby.