2023-05-20 08:41:26
What will Groupe Casino look like in a year? Who will own the French brands Géant, Monoprix, Franprix, Cdiscount, Naturalia or the Brazilian Assai? No one knows. Not even Jean-Charles Naouri. The empire built in thirty years by the modernizer of the Place de Paris, with 208,000 employees, is teetering under the weight of a debt that has become unsustainable, against a backdrop of a consumer crisis.
After trying to sell assets to bail himself out, Mr. Naouri has no choice but to restructure part of his 6.4 billion euros in debt and urgently seek fresh money in order to avoid the collapse of the whole building. On April 24, the distributor asked its creditors for their agreement to launch a conciliation procedure. A consultation initially scheduled until Friday May 19 has been extended to Tuesday May 23. “The final decision to request the opening of a conciliation procedure remains subject to the approval of the Board of Directors of Casino”insisted the group in a press release.
A crushing of unsecured debt, after redemption or conversion of claims into capital, is a condition set by Daniel Kretinsky, the Czech billionaire (indirect shareholder of the Monde), a candidate for the takeover of the distributor. The shareholder of Fnac Darty and the German Metro, through its companies EP Global Commerce and Vesa Equity Investment, offered Mr. Naouri to contribute 750 million euros to the group.
Vertical integration project
He is allied with Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, the founder of Fimalac, historical close to Mr. Naouri, who could for his part inject 150 million euros. “In order to avoid any risk of conflict of interest (…)Fimalac announced today its decision to resign from its post of director, with immediate effect”the distributor reported on Friday, May 19.
This tandem arose as negotiations were in full swing to marry Casino in France with Teract, the listed company controlled by the cereal cooperative InVivo and led by Moez-Alexandre Zouari, one of the main Franprix and Monoprix franchisees, associated with Xaviel Niel , the founder of Iliad, and investment banker Matthieu Pigasse (the latter two being personal shareholders of the Monde). This project has obtained the support of Intermarché, which has said it is ready to buy stores from Casino and inject 300 million euros in capital, together with InVivo.
The proposals of each other are however far from being set in stone. If the irruption in the game of Mr. Kretinsky seemed, at first, to annoy the Teract camp, the time is now to find common ground. “We are delighted that Daniel Kretinsky is coming forward”greeted Mr. Zouari in an interview published Sunday, May 14 in several media, calling on the Czech businessman to join his vertical integration project, from farm to fork. “Everyone talks to everyone”, summarizes an investment banker. The ball of suitors is just beginning and others could invite themselves.
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