(News Bulletin 247) – The retirement home operator will be able to open the first chapter of its heavy restructuring in the coming days, the courts having given its approval to its takeover by the CDC, without going through the takeover box.

The private nursing home group Orpea will launch “in the coming days” the first capital increase aimed at erasing part of its debt, the courts having rejected on Thursday a final appeal against this financial restructuring procedure.

The Paris Court of Appeal on Thursday rejected the appeal against a decision by the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) to proceed with the financial restructuring of Orpea without going through a public purchase offer (OPA).

“This is excellent news for the company, since it was the last suspensive condition to be met in order to be able to implement the technical operations”, which will lead to the arrival of the capital of a group carried out by the Caisse des Dépôts, commented to AFP Laurent Guillot, general manager of Orpea.

A first increase in the “coming days”

“We will launch operations in the coming days”, they will continue until “the first quarter of 2024”, he specified.

Orpea plans to transform 3.8 billion euros of debt into shares, out of a total of more than 9 billion euros of debt.

At the end of three successive capital increases, a group led by the Caisse des Dépôts, the financial arm of the State, with Maif, CNP and MACSF (Mutual of health professionals) will hold 50.2% of the capital of Orpea. Creditors will own 49.4% and current shareholders, if they decide not to participate in the capital increases that will be open to them, 0.4%.

At the end of the process, the value of the share could potentially be less than 0.02 euros. Thursday, at the start of the afternoon, it gained 15.2% to 1.126 euros.

Weighed down by a strategy of massive real estate purchases, Orpea found itself in great financial difficulty, in the wake of the publication of the book “Les Fossoyeurs” by journalist Victor Castanet in January 2022, which revealed mistreatment of residents and financial embezzlement by the former management.

(With AFP)