2023-06-08 18:20:15
The agro-industrial group InVivo and its subsidiary Teract have put an end to their project of rapprochement with the distributor in difficulty Casino, limiting itself to considering a partnership this Thursday. This leaves the Niel-Pigasse-Zouari trio on the one hand, the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky on the other hand, in the front line.
The founder of Free Xavier Niel, the investment banker Matthieu Pigasse and the distribution specialist Moez-Alexandre Zouari, the three co-founders of Teract, announced this Thursday evening “on their behalf” wanting “to bring out an industrial and financial solution sustainable” for Casino, crushed by the weight of its debt.
It will therefore be without Teract as an entity, even if a “potential operational partnership” remains on the table, according to a press release from Teract and Casino. And without InVivo, which owns more than 75% of Teract (Gamm Vert, Jardiland, Boulangeries Louise brands) and union of 188 agricultural cooperatives.
“Teract and the Casino group have decided, by mutual agreement, not to continue” their discussions, writes Casino. And this, “considering the evolution of the context”, specified Teract.
“Adjustment of debt”
The specialized media The letter a had written earlier on Thursday that InVivo would not wish to invest “a penny in the current takeover operation” of Casino, having also been mobilized since the end of March on a project to acquire the Australian malt producer United Malt Group, in return for up to 1.5 billion Australian dollars (930 million euros).
This new episode does not call into question the agreement previously concluded with the third chain of supermarkets in France, Intermarché, which had for a time joined discussions with Teract but had finally concluded an agreement with Casino at the end of May. An agreement providing on the one hand for a strengthening of their purchasing partnerships, on the other hand for the sale of around a hundred stores.
Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse and Moez-Alexandre Zouari – who is also a major franchisee of the Casino group – plan “a strengthening of Casino’s equity” as well as an “adaptation of the existing debt to the group’s capacities and the preservation of its growth potential.
The idea, according to press information confirmed to AFP on Thursday by a source familiar with the matter, would be to create a financial vehicle topped up with 300 million euros, and to invite Casino’s creditors, as well as ” all players interested in participating in the recovery of a historical player in distribution”, to bring in new capital.
Daniel Kretinsky, for his part, offered certain creditors to pay around 40% of the debts due, according to press information at the end of May confirmed by a source familiar with the matter, either in cash, or by conversion into shares, or by a combination both. He offered to provide the distributor with 750 million euros as part of a capital increase.
Casino had formalized, last Friday, its entry into a conciliation procedure for a period of four months in order to renegotiate its large debt. The group, which employs 200,000 people worldwide, including a large quarter in France, is indebted to the tune of 6.4 billion euros at the end of 2022, including 4.5 on its activity in France, according to its official data.
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