(BFM Stock Exchange) – The specialist in retirement homes announced the sale of its grandson network to Crédit Agricole Santé et Territoires for a gross sale of 345 million euros. The former Korian completes his asset transfer program of 1 billion euros on which the pressure rose.

If he has suffered less than his competitor Emeis (the former Orpea), the group of Clariane retirement homes, formerly known as Korian, still took the broth on the stock market. Over five years, its title collapsed by 77%.

The company has suffered, like Orpea, with the high inflation of its costs as well as difficulty refinance its debt, in a context of high rise in interest rates.

The dependency specialist had to launch a financial restructuring plan of 1.5 billion euros, which had notably mobilized its reference shareholder, Crédit Agricole Assurances. The Bank’s subsidiary Crédit Agricole had given more than 200 million euros to the pot, as part of a capital increase in the company. The company currently holds 26.03% of the capital of Clariane.

This restructuring, announced in 2023, also included an asset transfer plan of around 1 billion euros (gross), and which was still not completed 18 months later. When publishing its activity in the first quarter last April, the group announced that 60% of this program had been finalized (therefore around 600 million euros), against 50% at the end of December.

“The pressure rises so that faster transfers of transfers” occurs, noted the independent alphavalue design office.

The market welcomes the announcement with enthusiasm. The action climbs 14.6% at the end of the session, this Thursday, June 12 on the Paris Stock Exchange.

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A “half-new-new”

It is now done. Clariane has announced the sale of “grandson”, a network of home services for the elderly that works under a franchise model, with 292 franchise agencies. This company was sold in Crédit Agricole Santé et Territoires, another subsidiary of Crédit Agricole.

The amount of the transaction amounts to 345 million euros in gross sale of transfer. This price is generous for Clariane. “GRQUES” only contributed to the company’s income at 56 million euros last year. In other words, the sale price exteriorizes a multiple of almost seven times the revenues of 2024.

Another indicator: Clariane explains that the transaction based on a multiple means of 14 times the gross operating result (EBITDA). According to AlphaValue, the transfers previously announced by Clariane as part of the deleveraging program displayed multiple Ebitda between 11 times and 13 times.

These high multiples therefore allow the group to display an amount of total transfers of 960 million euros, which leads the company to affirm that it “completed six months before the fixed term” the strengthening of its financial structure and its asset disposal program.

“This is good news, but half a new one in reality. Clariane recovers cash and that is essential. The company has crystallized value on a hidden asset because one could not imagine that a company generating 60 million euros can be sold six times its turnover. But in fact, Clariane has not sold real estate assets or” core business “activities, and questions about the valorization of these assets. Analyst.

“The questions about the valuation of its operational activities are still there. To answer them, Clariane must go up its margin. But for the time being, profitability has dropped, in the past two years despite the increase in the occupancy rate,” he continues.

In 2024, the margin of Ebitda de Clariane was 11.5% after 12.2% in 2023 and 13.4% in 2022.