2023-07-16 20:35:17
They will not fight to take over the sign. The trio Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse and Moez-Alexandre Zouari announced on Sunday that they were giving up their offer to take over the distributor Casino (Casino, but also Franprix, Monoprix, Naturalia, etc.) which is awash in debt, leaving the company alone in the running. Daniel Kretinsky’s offer, supported by Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière.
3F, the holding company through which the trio intended to take over Casino, wrote in a press release that it “refuses to participate in a biased process – the company having obviously already chosen its buyer”. She claims not to have “received the requested information” on several points of Casino’s financial situation.
The project carried by 3F was “a project to create a large group, not a dismantling plan”, assure the billionaires in this press release. They criticize that the “process (…) does not give an equivalent chance to all candidates and the best possible chance to the Casino group and its employees”.
Kretinsky in good position
Daniel Kretinsky, already in the capital of the retail brand, in tandem with Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, therefore finds himself alone in the running to take it over. The duo plans to inject 1.35 billion euros in equity, including more than 900 million euros from themselves, at the rate of 750 million for the Czech billionaire and 150 for the Frenchman.
According Le Figaro, the “plan” of the businessmen should also obtain Monday the support of the board of directors of the group. The businessman, who has already invested heavily in the French press, has also reviewed his offer. “We have modified our offer a little to take into account the comments of the secured creditors, but also to take into account, to a certain extent, the interests of the unsecured creditors”, he explains in an interview with Echoes.
6.4 billion euros of debt
The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire had considered “solid” Tuesday the two offers of takeover of the distributor in financial difficulty Casino, without taking sides, simply indicating that “the State will be vigilant on employment” and on the maintenance of the “Headquarters at Saint-Étienne”. Bruno Le Maire notably estimated that the group’s employees, 200,000 worldwide, including a quarter in France, “do not have to pay for any errors that may have been made by management”.
Casino, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary in this uncertain context, entered the conciliation procedure at the end of May until October 25 at the latest, in order to renegotiate with its creditors its debt, which amounts to 6.4 billion euros. of net debt. The group must also raise at least 900 million euros in equity. With the withdrawal of 3F’s offer, everything could soon accelerate.
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