2023-07-28 08:04:00
Billionaires Daniel Kretinsky and Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière have reached an agreement with the French distributor’s creditors to buy the struggling group.
By HR with AFP The Casino group may find a way out with the acquisition of Kretinsky and Ladreit de Lacharrière. © Rémy PERRIN / MAXPPP / PHOTOPQR/LE PROGRES/MAXPPP Published on 07/28/2023 at 08:04
A way out may have been found to put an end to Casino’s difficulties. The French distributor announced on Friday July 28 that it had reached an agreement in principle with some of its main creditors on the possibility of recapitalizing and restructuring the company, via the assistance of billionaires Daniel Kretinsky and Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière backed by the British fund Attestor.
This agreement in principle provides for the signing of a binding agreement in September “allowing the opening of an accelerated safeguard procedure in October”, specifies the group, which has 200,000 employees worldwide, including a quarter in France. The acquiring trio will bring 1.2 billion euros in new money and the restructuring of Casino’s debt must take place “during the first quarter of 2024”.
Buyout candidates are delighted
The candidates for the takeover of the distributor Casino said on Friday that they were “happy that their long-term industrial plan to rescue the group” had “gathered the support of key creditors and banking partners”. Casino: the Niel-Pigasse-Zouari trio gives up, Kretinsky alone in the running
The takeover offer “makes it possible to envisage a significant reduction in debt of the Casino group”, at the end of which the group “will be able to take full advantage of its many assets, the quality of its locations and the commitment of its teams. , no longer being penalized by its over-indebtedness”, they estimated in a joint press release on Friday.
The French Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, on Friday gave his “support” to the agreement reached by Casino with its main creditors, believing that it opened “the way to a lasting solution for the future” of the French distributor. It “opens the way to a lasting solution for the future of the group, and constitutes a decisive step towards a definitive agreement to be ratified by the end of the year”, he added.
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