by Dominique Vidalon
PARIS (Reuters) – The billionaires seeking to save Casino will detail their respective “business plans” for the cash-strapped retailer on Tuesday afternoon, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
The two camps will present before conciliators appointed by the court, representatives of the State and Casino management, their pricing strategy, their turnover and profitability objectives or their vision for the group’s stores.
The Ministry of Finance has confirmed the holding of a meeting concerning Casino in its premises which should begin at 12:00 GMT on Tuesday, without revealing the content.
After the meeting, mediators will “likely” give both sides a deadline to submit their final offers, one of the sources said.
The meeting will take place as Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky with his partner Fimalac and 3F Holding extended from July 10 to July 12 the validity of their respective offer to inject new capital into Casino, whose total debt reaches 6.4 billion euros. euros.
The plan proposed by Daniel Kretinsky totals 1.35 billion euros, eclipsing a rival proposal from 3F, the holding company headed by telecommunications magnate Xavier Niel, investment banker Matthieu Pigasse and businessman Moez-Alexandre Zouari.
The cash injections, however, are only the first step in Casino’s sweeping restructuring plan, which the group says will require a deal with debt holders as part of legal proceedings.
Casino management and court-appointed mediators have set July 27 as the deadline to reach an agreement in principle on the terms of the financial restructuring.
In any case, the current shareholders will be massively diluted, warned Casino.
Daniel Kretinsky and his partners are ready to hire former Metro and Lactalis executive Philippe Palazzi as Casino’s new boss if their offer is successful, Les Echos reported on Sunday. Camp Kretinsky could not immediately be reached for comment.
Moez-Alexandre Zouari should meanwhile take the helm of Casino if 3F’s bid wins, 3F said.
The French government is particularly concerned about maintaining jobs at Casino, France’s sixth-largest retailer, a finance ministry official said last month.
The group employed around 50,000 people in the country at the end of last year.
(Report Dominique Vidalon, Corentin Chapron, edited by Kate Entringer)
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