A Casino supermarket
The Paris Commercial Court on Monday gave the green light to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s plan to bail out French distributor Casino, in serious financial difficulties, as part of an accelerated safeguard procedure, said the consortium made up of EP Equity Investment, Fimalac and Attestor.
“The consortium (…) welcomes the decision of the Paris Commercial Court to give a favorable response to the proposal for an accelerated safeguard plan that it formulated for the takeover of Casino,” he indicated. in a press release.
“From April, the management team, led by its general director Philippe Palazzi, will implement an ambitious plan of reorganization, investment and modernization to establish the development of the group’s brands,” is- he adds.
The Casino group confirmed in a press release published Monday evening that the Paris Commercial Court has approved the accelerated safeguard plans for the group and its subsidiaries.
“It is envisaged that all of the operations planned by the financial restructuring will be carried out on March 27, 2024, subject to the approval by the Financial Markets Authority of the prospectus relating to the various issues of securities provided for by the accelerated safeguard plan of Casino”, added the French distributor.
Casino, France’s seventh-largest supermarket group by market share, has found itself on the brink of bankruptcy after years of debt-financed acquisitions and recent losses of market share to its rivals.
The current shareholders of the Saint-Etienne group will be massively diluted as part of the restructuring operation which will put an end to thirty years of reign of Jean-Charles Naouri over the company, which he controlled via his holding company Rallye.
The consortium led by Kretinsky will own and control 53.7% of Casino’s share capital under the bailout agreement, which provides for the injection of 1.2 billion euros of new money into Casino, as well as a reduction of 6.1 billion euros in the group’s debt.
The Paris Commercial Court extended the company’s accelerated safeguard period until February 25.
Casino, which is seeking to stem the losses of its large hypermarkets and obtain liquidity, concluded agreements last month with Auchan Retail and Groupement Les Mousquetaires, parent company of Intermarché, to sell them 288 stores in France.
At the beginning of February, Groupement Les Mousquetaires replaced Carrefour with the acquisition of 25 stores.
The sale, which has sparked union fears about a possible dismantling of the group, is expected to leave Casino with the high-end Monoprix brand as well as Franprix, which also focuses on city center stores.
On the Paris Stock Exchange, Casino shares rose 3.5% after the announcement of the green light for the rescue plan.
(Written by Dominique Vidalon, Diana Mandia and Blandine Hénault for the French version, edited by Sophie Louet)