PARIS (Reuters) – The Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC) has reached an agreement with Orpea’s creditors to take control of the heavily indebted retirement home manager, Liberation reported on Tuesday.
The agreement would value Orpea, in turmoil for a year against a backdrop of accusations of shortcomings in the care of residents, at 1.15 billion euros. He would make the public establishment his majority shareholder with 50.2% of the capital, according to the daily, which does not specify where he obtained this information.
Spokespersons for the CDC and Orpea, which on Monday requested the suspension of the listing of its shares and all of its bond securities, both declined to comment on the operation.
Caisse des dépôts, which does not yet have a stake in Orpea, made an offer to take over the company earlier this month, but discussions with a group of investors led by the CDC and creditors holding around 50 % of its unsecured debt, amounting to 3.8 billion euros, failed on January 19.
Orpea announced Monday the resumption of discussions.
According to Liberation, the creditors have agreed to draw a line under 70% of 3.5 billion euros in debt and the agreement will be officially validated on Wednesday by the CDC.
Any agreement of this importance must be approved by the CDC’s supervisory commission, chaired by a parliamentarian, said a spokesman for the financial institution.
The commission has not yet met and the terms of the operation are still being discussed, the CDC spokesman said.
According to the latter, Orpea will make an announcement if an agreement is formally reached.
The group’s share fell around 93% in 2022 after the publication of the book “Les fossoyeurs” by journalist Victor Castanet, which sparked a debate on practices within private retirement homes in France.
(Report Bertrand Boucey and Mathieu Rosemain, with the contribution of Silvia Aloisi, French version Nicolas Delame and Diana Mandiá, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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