by Mathieu Rosemain and Dominique Vidalon

PARIS (Reuters) – The battle around Casino between several big names in French capitalism has reached a new stage with the official filing of offers.

The Saint-Etienne distributor, in great financial difficulty, confirmed on Tuesday that it had received two proposals aimed at strengthening its equity, one from the trio of businessmen comprising Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse and Moez-Alexandre Zouari and the other associating the Czech businessman Daniel Kretinsky with Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière.

“These two proposals will be analyzed and presented to the ad hoc committee of Casino’s board of directors today, then to the creditors in the context of a meeting organized on July 5 under the aegis of the conciliators,” Casino said in a press release. , which specifies that no decision will be taken until the creditors have been consulted.

Heavily indebted, Casino launched official negotiations with its creditors at the end of May as part of a conciliation procedure before the courts intended to restructure its debt.

Casino did not detail the offers officially presented on Tuesday, but according to a source familiar with the matter, the proposal led by Daniel Kretinsky and Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, both already shareholders of the group, provides for a capital increase of 1.35 billion euros. euros, with a contribution of 900 million euros from the two businessmen through their respective companies, EP Global Commerce and Fimalac.

The remaining 450 million would be provided by Casino creditors, the source added. The project also plans to convert 500 million euros of secured debt into equity, she said.

LOSS OF CONTROL

In a separate statement, 3F Holding – the investment vehicle of Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse and Moez-Alexandre Zouari – said its offer aimed to inject 900 million euros into the group.

According to a source close to 3F, the three businessmen would bring 300 million euros directly and secured creditors 600 million.

The project also provides for unsecured creditors to provide additional financing of 600 million euros, which would bring the amount of the offer to 1.5 billion euros.

Casino declined to comment.

Whatever the proposal chosen, it should mark the loss of control of the current leader of Casino, Jean-Charles Naouri, after 30 years of stranglehold on the distributor.

In its press release, 3F specifies that its proposal foresees that Moez-Alexandre Zouari take the direction of the group.

On the Paris Bourse, the listing of the Casino share was suspended at 08:41 GMT “at the request of the company, pending the publication of a press release and until further notice”, according to a notification from the Euronext stock exchange operator.

Casino shares then gained 16.2% to 4.57 euros.

(Blandine Hénault for the , edited by Kate Entringer)

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