Casino’s board of directors will meet on Monday afternoon and, according to the sources of the French daily, should support Křetínský’s proposal to strengthen the chain’s capital. Křetínský could become the majority owner of Casino at the beginning of autumn, writes Le Figaro.
Casino, which includes the Monoprix and Franprix chains, for example, had a consolidated net debt of 6.4 billion euros, almost 153 billion crowns, at the end of last year. In the next two years, he will have to repay the debt in the amount of three billion euros.
The casino has been negotiating with creditors since June. The group is trying to stay afloat by converting a large part of its debt into shares, selling off ownership stakes and through an agreement with the government to defer the payment of taxes and social contributions.
The couple Křetínský and Ladreit de Lacharrière, who are now the only interested parties, want to invest a total of 1.35 billion euros in Casino, which translates to 32.1 billion crowns. Of this amount, they want to provide more than 900 million euros from their own resources. The Czech businessman will give 750 million euros and the French partner 150 million euros, AFP reported.
The 3F trio, made up of telecommunications tycoon Xavier Niel, investment banker Matthieu Pigasse and businessman Moez-Alexandre Zouari, wanted to use Casino’s failures to take control of the chain’s brands in France. Their competitor in the attempt to control the chain was Křetínský and Ladreit de Lacharrière, who together hold 22 percent of Casino’s capital and are trying to protect their investment.
Both camps presented their proposals to recapitalize Casino on July 3. According to the newspaper Le Figaro, both proposals at the time were unacceptable to the state, which is why it gave the competitors two weeks to present a new offer. Křetínský and his partner submitted a new offer on Saturday, their proposal was also supported by the investment company Attestor, which originally stood for their competitors. Today, according to Le Figaro, this is what made 3F Holding withdraw from the fight.
The French government is worried about possible layoffs at the chain, which is France’s sixth-largest retailer. At the end of last year, the group had approximately 50,000 employees in the country, Reuters reported.
Daniel Křetínský is co-owner of the publishing house Czech News Center, which also runs the economic website E15.cz.
2023-07-17 07:45:00
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