Casino: duel of billionaires for the takeover of the group, the action suspended

Their intentions were known but they are now officially candidates and alone on the track: the duo of billionaires Daniel Kretinsky and Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière on the one hand, the trio Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse and Moez-Alexandre Zouari on the other hand, are candidates the takeover of the distributor Casino, in great financial difficulty. The action of the Casino group was suspended Tuesday morning on the Paris Stock Exchange pending a press release, in the midst of a rebound phase after the announcement of these offers. Casino trading was suspended at 10:41 a.m., according to a notice from stock market operator Euronext, "at the company's request, pending the publication of a press release and until further notice." At that time, Casino rebounded from 16.22% to 4.57 euros. Its parent company Rallye soared 96.23%, its share now worth 1.25 euros. A rebound that did not, however, erase the losses recorded since the beginning of the year, the price of Casino and Rallye shares having melted by more than 53% each.

The two proposals will be studied by Casino's board of directors on Tuesday, then by the group's creditors on Wednesday. “No decision relating to these proposals will be taken” before discussions with the creditors, assures the distributor which employs 200,000 employees worldwide, a quarter of which in France, under well-known brands such as Franprix, Monoprix or Pao de Acucar in Brazil. The details of the offers will be officially made public on Wednesday after the close of trading.

The Niel-Pigasse-Zouari trio said in a separate press release on Tuesday that it plans to invest "with its financial partners" 900 million euros in the Casino group. With a “long-term industrial and social project”, its offer “enjoys the support of a large group of creditors from the Casino group”, assures the trio. Moez-Alexandre Zouari, a major franchisee of the Casino group in Île-de-France and member of this founding trio, is called upon to take over the management of the distributor from Saint-Etienne if this offer is approved. “With the offer that we filed yesterday, it is more than 2 billion euros in capital increase which is carried out by 3F and its partners”, assures a spokesperson for the trio, for whom the 900 million euros Euros of fresh money will “cover the group's liquidity needs”.

Opposite, the duo of billionaires Daniel Kretinsky and Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière plans in its offer for Casino a recapitalization of up to 1.8 billion euros in total, including 500 million euros of conversion of debt into capital, learned AFP on Tuesday from sources familiar with the matter. The two men, already shareholders of the distributor, had previously announced that they wanted to contribute 900 million euros themselves, 750 million from Daniel Kretinsky and 150 million from Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière. The Czech billionaire and Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, a friend of Casino CEO Jean-Charles Naouri, are also counting on a restructuring of Casino's gross debt to the tune of 5 billion euros, and do not plan to sell the hypermarkets or the retailer in CDiscount line, learned AFP Tuesday in the entourage of the signatories of the offer.

These equity contribution offers are part of the conciliation procedure initiated at the end of May by the group, which is in great financial difficulty. Casino is trying to renegotiate its large debt - 6.4 billion euros in net debt - but also needs equity to revive its activity. The group had previously indicated that it hoped to “finalize an agreement in principle on the terms of the financial restructuring by July 27”. It is still necessary that the creditors of the group, large banks, funds, institutions accept.

On Monday, Casino announced that some of them were unwilling to give gifts to the group. While they had been asked not to claim payment of the sums due during the conciliation, which can last until the end of October at the latest, some refused, forcing Casino to ask the courts for "time limits for grace". The distributor also failed to meet, at the end of the second quarter of 2023, an obligation set by its creditors, which can be considered as a payment default. These lenders were asked not to claim their due from Casino during the conciliation, but had "not responded to the request" as of Monday, Casino said.