Casino: protection plan approved by the economic court

The casino’s renovation is nearing completion. The Paris Commercial Court approved this Monday the draft accelerated defense plan for the distributor, which has been experiencing serious financial difficulties for several months, despite the unfavorable opinion of the prosecutor’s office.

Deep restructuring

This plan calls for deep restructuring. By March-April it should come under the control of billionaires Daniel Kretinsky and Marc Ladre de Lacharriere with the support of the Attestor investment fund. It is this “consortium” of buyers that is helping to rescue the adrift group by providing the bulk (€925 million) of new money (€1.2 billion) intended to meet deadlines and restart operations, in exchange for a very significant reduction in debt.

In exchange for this massive debt reduction, buyers will take the reins of the casinos and significantly reduce the number of stores.

In France, 288 large stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets will be taken over by Intermarché, Auchan and Carrefour in three successive waves: April 30, May 31 and July 1. Thus, the transfer of stores affected more than 12,800 people out of the 50,000 that the Casino group still had in France at the end of 2022 under various brands (including Monoprix and Franprix).

Unfavorable opinions

The first hearing in the arbitration court took place on February 5, but at the request of the unions, the debate was postponed for a week to try to correct the lack of a “social component” in the protection plan. Worker representatives fear between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs will be lost as a result of the sharp reduction in the number of stores.

For this reason, the Central Social and Economic Committee (CSEC) and its lawyers gave an unfavorable opinion on this rescue plan, deploring the inadequacy of its social component. The prosecutor also gave an unfavorable opinion on the defense plan, deploring, inter alia, the “too great discrepancy between the plan originally presented” and the one on which the court must rule, as well as the “completely incomplete content of the social aspect.” .

Once the plan is approved, the various capital increases must take place in March and the general meeting of new shareholders must immediately decide on the new composition of the board of directors.