Shareholders and creditors have greenlit Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s rescue plans for French retail group Casino, although they did so quite reluctantly.
“Bankruptcy of a group”
At a shareholders’ meeting, yesterday, it did become clear that the approval was not wholehearted: “We are talking about the bankruptcy of a group“, LSA quoted court mandate holder Hélène Bourbouloux.
Shareholders lose almost everything in the proposed capital change: Kretinsky and his consortium gain 53.7 % of the capital, while shareholders only hang on to 0.3 %. Creditors take over a quarter of the capital. To reduce the huge mountain of debt, Kretinsky will bring in as much as 1.2 billion euros in equity. In total, the group’s equity will be improved by 5 billion euros and gross debt by 4.9 billion.
A new board around Kretinsky will take over later this year, aiming to achieve sales of twelve billion euros this year. After the planned sale of hypermarkets and supermarkets to Intermarché and Auchan, that should drop down to 10.4 billion euros by 2025. The new management hopes to increase EBITDA sevenfold, from 126 million in 2024 to 920 million in 2028. However, the strategy remains vague, including more private brands, more franchising and more competitive pricing. The impact on employee numbers was not specifically discussed.
