Investigators from the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) visited the headquarters of the Casino distribution group as well as the home of its CEO in mid-May as part of an investigation opened in 2018, reported this Tuesday the weekly Challenges. Contacted by AFP, the group said it would make “no comment on an ongoing procedure”. The AMF has also indicated that it does not wish to comment.
According Challenges, the AMF investigators visited the headquarters of Casino in Saint-Etienne, in particular the office of its CEO Jean-Charles Naouri, recently renewed until 2025 at the head of the French group. They also made a “home visit” to the private residence of Pierre Bérégovoy’s former chief of staff at the Ministry of Social Affairs and then at the Economy and Budget. Jean-Charles Naouri, controlling shareholder of the group and sole executive corporate officer of the company, has been CEO of Casino since 2005 and largest shareholder since 1992.
The file followed “closely” by the regulator
The AMF looked into the distribution group following a dispute with the Muddy Waters fund which began in December 2015, when the American activist published an incendiary note on the group, criticizing in particular its level of indebtedness. In June 2019, the stock market policeman clarified to AFP that “since 2015, the Casino / Rallye file has been the subject of close attention and monitoring by the regulator”, and that investigations had “been opened , covering both financial information and the securities market”. At the end of 2019, the AMF had sent “observations to both parties”, without making any complaints.
In its universal registration document for the year 2019, Casino reported on these observations. But the document specified that a new AMF seizure had been made in September 2018 by Casino and Rallye, Casino’s holding company, and that a criminal complaint had been filed in October 2018. These investigations are “still in progress, to the knowledge of the company”, specified Casino in its universal registration document valid for the year 2021, filed on March 31 with the AMF.
Lawyer for Muddy Waters, Sophie Vermeille rejoiced Tuesday evening with AFP “that the regulator seems to put the package”, but regretted “the speed of reaction of the French public authorities”. “In the Archegos case, which caused a scandal in the United States, the SEC completed its investigation in one year”.