2023-07-17 18:02:44
This Monday, July 17, the management of the Casino group and its creditors (large European banks, investment funds, institutional players, etc.) were each to examine two competing takeover offers. There will only be one.
criticizing “a biased process” with a buyer “already chosen”the trio composed of Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse and Moez-Alexandre Zouari withdrew the day before. The duo formed by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky and French businessman Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière now has every chance of winning.
► Clearance the debt
In a long interview given dailyThe echoesDaniel Kretinsky believes that a decision should be “taken quickly”. Casino must reach an agreement in principle with its main financiers by July 27 on the clearance of a debt estimated at 6.4 billion euros at the end of 2022.
In the plan updated this weekend, the duo alone in the running provides for a conversion of debt into capital and the injection of 1.2 billion euros in fresh money, including 900 million from their pockets.
Daniel Kretinsky, second shareholder of the Casino group, has chosen to invest “in traditional industries” such as energy or food, less expert and uncertain than new technologies.
► European food strategy
“Food distribution is one of our areas of development in Europe”, recalls in the same interview the Czech billionaire, already a shareholder of the German brand Metro, Sainsbury’s in the United Kingdom and partner of the Spanish Eroski.
As a “francophile”, he is surprised that his group is now “more present in Germany and the United Kingdom than in France”. He wishes with his partner Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, Casino’s controlling shareholder, to participate in a “rebalancing”.
If the duo is chosen, the chain of stores with 125 springs and 200,000 employees (including 50,000 in France) will reorganize without its current CEO. “Jean-Charles (Naouri) did not have the same reading as us”, euphemised Daniel Kretinsky in the interview.
► Lack of investment
If he salutes the character “visionary” the development of convenience stores, particularly in town with Monoprix or Franprix, he believes that Jean-Charles Naouri did not know how to anticipate the disaffection of “Casino hypermarkets and supermarkets that are losing a lot of money”.
“The financial pressure exerted by the debt pushed to increase prices in stores whose outfit did not justify high prices”, diagnoses Daniel Kretinsky. Money also ran out for “investment and innovation”. And the “tremendous pressure on the need for working capital did not help “negotiate the best prices with suppliers”.
It is from this ” vicious circle “ that the duo wants to release Casino by sending “a strong message” to the entire ecosystem, and in particular to suppliers and credit insurers. Investments in store renovations, innovation and lower prices should bring back “lost customers”.
► No sale of hypermarkets at this stage
The duo alone in the running promises to keep the headquarters of Casino in Saint-Étienne, to “preserve the maximum possible perimeter”. A lapidary formula to mean that the turnover curves will quickly have to be reversed for the Casino supermarkets (– 14% in the second quarter of 2023), Casino Hyperfrais (– 17%) and Cdiscount (– 22%).
While the sales figures for convenience stores, where 8% of French people now do their main shopping according to Ifop, are settling (with + 2.2% for Monoprix, + 4.3% for Franprix and + 2.7% for Casino shop).
If we know ” the winner “ of the match for the takeover of Casino, “we don’t know the end of the story”, remarks Olivier Dauvers, specialist in mass distribution, in a news video.
If the group’s financial situation will be improved, “Does Casino have a commercial future? »wonders the economist who points to a “cost structure too high”some stores “dilapidated” et “nothing original in Kretinsky’s project” pour “stop the bleeding”. At least at this stage.
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