The title Orpea fell by 13% on Wednesday afternoon following revelations from Mediapart according to which a Luxembourg investor from the group of Ehpad would have carried out “questionable operations”.
The title Orpea fell by 13% on Wednesday afternoon on the Paris Stock Exchange, weighed down by revelations from Mediapart according to which the private group of retirement homes is threatened with a “financial scandal“because of a Luxembourg company which invested in its residences and which would have carried out “questionable transactions“. At 3:25 p.m., in a market down 0.81%, the stock plunged 13.05% to 29.26 euros.
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According to Mediapart and the collective of journalists Investigate Europe, the Luxembourg holding Lipany, created in 2007, has “accumulated 92 million assets», «mainly shares in many nursing homes and clinics managed by Orpeain several European countries, including France, andconducted questionable financial transactions“. Lipany belongs, according to Mediapart, to Roberto Tribuno, an accountant and tax adviser who was the boss of Orpea in Italy. This holdingmakes almost no profit and has never distributed dividends“, its activities are “entirely financed by debt“, so “opaque to say the least“says the investigative media.
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Orpea wants to “shed light on the accusations”
In a brief statement sent to AFP, the management of Orpea indicated that it could not comment, “justice being seized“: the company recalls that it recently filed a complaint against X for abuse of corporate assets, with the Nanterre prosecution, in the Hauts-de-Seine. Concerned about “shed light on the accusations against the group» since the publication of the book-investigation The Gravediggers of Victor Castanet, management says it has “detected potentially criminal facts, which call into question individual behavior“. Orpea also emphasizes having takenfirst disciplinary measures, several people having already left the company“. The group mentions by name the case of the former financial director Sébastien Mesnard, who according to Mediapart was in “close cooperationwith Lipany. “Sébastien Mesnard no longer works for the company and no longer has access to his email“said management in its press release. “We are continuing our investigations and we will take all the measures and sanctions that will prove necessary.“, she added, recalling that “these facts have nothing to do with the reception and care of the residents“.
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Under fire from critics since the publication at the end of January of theGravediggers“, Orpea is also the subject of an investigation opened in Nanterre, at the end of April, on suspicion of institutional mistreatment or financial offences. Other investigations have been underway since February, for “forgery and use of forgery and violation of labor legislation by abusive use of fixed-term contracts“. Since the beginning of the scandal, on January 24, the price of Orpea has melted by around 64%.