(News Bulletin 247) – The European number one in retirement homes is rebounding strongly on the Paris Stock Exchange after completing its capital increase of 237 million euros.

With a strengthened financial structure, Clariane is beginning a new chapter in its history. The former Korian announced on Wednesday the results of its capital increase with shareholders’ preferential subscription rights, launched on June 13.

The number one retirement home provider thus raised a total of 237 million euros by issuing 213.59 million new shares at a unit price of 1.11 euros. This price represented a discount of 65% compared to the price of the last session before this capital increase.

A recomposed shareholder base

Clariane indicated that total demand amounted to 397 million euros during this call for tenders, reflecting a subscription rate of 167.5%. The settlement-delivery of the new shares will take place on July 5. These new shares will be immediately assimilated with the existing shares and will be traded on the same line.

This second fundraising follows the launch, on June 12, of a capital increase reserved for investment companies HLD Europe, Leima Valeurs and Flat Footed for a total amount of 92.1 million euros.

Following this capital increase, Clariane’s float (on a non-diluted basis) stands at 31.9%, while Predica (Crédit Agricole Assurances) owns 26% of the capital and has a seat on the board of directors, HLD Europe, 25.2% of the capital and two seats, the American investment fund Flat Footed 11.3% and Leima Valeurs 5.5% and a seat on the board of directors, details Yi Zhong, analyst at the independent firm AlphaValue in a note published Wednesday evening.

“The completion of the two capital increases has enabled Clariane to significantly strengthen its balance sheet, although financial challenges remain,” notes the analyst.

“Our concerns arise from the potential pressure exerted by the main shareholders on governance, given that their interests are not always aligned with those of the minority shareholders,” warns the specialist, who remains a buyer of the file with a target, however, reduced to 2.27 euros against 3.28 euros previously.

On the Paris Stock Exchange, Clariane rebounded by 16% to 2.126 euros, this Thursday around 3:15 p.m., after this injection of fresh money that the European number one in retirement homes was sorely lacking.

A global plan of 1.5 billion euros

Let us recall that the company was forced last November to announce a refinancing plan of 1.5 billion euros intended to strengthen its financial structure. The aim was very clearly to avoid default for Clariane, which has also been weakened by the negative fallout from the Orpea affair, but also by the sharp rise in interest rates and inflation.

These two fundraisings are part of a roadmap that is divided into four parts. The company recalls that it has completed, as of December 2023, the first two parts of this refinancing plan, namely on the one hand two real estate partnerships with Crédit Agricole Assurances for amounts of 140 million euros and 90 million euros, and, on the other hand, the establishment of a real estate bridging loan with several banks.

The group also recalls that it has already completed around 40% of an asset disposal program, which constitutes the fourth part of its refinancing program. At the end of June, Clariane announced that it had sold its service residence business in France to Odalys, a subsidiary of the Duval real estate group.

The company intends to start again on a healthy basis in order to manage its strategic plan “By your side”. To this end, the company had revealed its medium-term objectives for the period 2023-2026. The European leader in retirement homes indicated at the end of May that it was aiming for average annual organic growth of around +5% over this period. The company is also counting on a gross operating margin (EBITDA) increasing by 100 to 150 basis points (or by 1 to 1.5 percentage points) by 2026, excluding the impact of the IFRS 16 accounting standard.

The company also hopes to reduce the debt leverage ratio to a level below 3 times EBITDA by the end of 2025. At the end of December 2023, it stood at 3.8 times and the group posted net debt of 3.78 billion euros.