The Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, second shareholder of the Casino distribution group, proposed to the latter to inject 750 million euros via a reserved capital increase which would lead, if completed, “to a change of control of Casino,” the group announced on Monday.
Casino, which has struggled with debt problems for several years, says it “acknowledged” the proposal with conditions, including the group’s “very substantial reduction in gross unsecured debt”.
The group from Saint-Etienne “will analyze the proposal” of EP Global Commerce a.s., one of Daniel Kretinsky’s investment vehicles, “over the next few weeks”.
The Czech billionaire, very active in the distribution sector where he is also the largest shareholder of Fnac Darty with more than 25% of the capital, held at the end of 2022 10% of the capital of Casino via another entity, Vesa Equity Investment.
The Casino group specifies that this operation would require “the approval of certain (of its) creditors” and says it wants to “study the possibility of requesting the appointment of conciliators”.
In any case, this will only be possible in the event of the agreement of “certain bank creditors and bondholders”, indicates Casino. Consultations with bondholders and bank creditors “will end on May 19, 2023, in each case subject to extension at the Casino Group’s initiative”.
Another major announcement on Monday: the group of independent stores Intermarché, the third largest retailer in France, already a partner of Casino on purchases, has joined the “exclusive discussions” that have been taking place for several weeks concerning a possible merger between Casino and the Teract group (Jardiland, Gamm vert, Boulangeries Louise).
This newly created distribution group, listed on the stock exchange and headed by Moez-Alexandre Zouari, has the agrifood giant InVivo as its majority shareholder. On its board of directors sit notably the founder of Free, Xavier Niel, and the banker Matthieu Pigasse.
In addition to the extension of the purchasing alliance between Intermarché and Casino, the discussions relate in particular to the acquisition by Intermarché “over several years and at market price” of a certain number of stores belonging to Casino “representing at least 1.1 billion euros in turnover including VAT”, and on a minority stake taken by Intermarché in the capital of the entity resulting from discussions between Casino and Teract.