Casino’s creditors and shareholders provide broad support for the group’s rescue plan

This vote was one of the stages of the group’s financial restructuring, expected for March-April.

Creditors and shareholders of the Casino distribution group, in financial difficulty, have validated the safeguard plan negotiated in recent months, the company announced on Friday January 12. She mentioned a “very broad support from shareholders and creditors” on “draft accelerated backup plans” of the group. Casino shareholders thus approved the project at 98.87%.

The outcome of this consultation was hardly in doubt to the extent that the current CEO Jean-Charles Naouri, one of the architects of this rescue plan, is still the group’s main shareholder. Takeover candidates Daniel Kretinsky and Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière are also major shareholders.

Several validations still necessary

This vote was one of the stages of the group’s financial restructuring, expected for March-April. The plan must still obtain the approval of various competition authorities, in addition to that of the European Commission, which gave the green light at the beginning of January on these questions. It must also obtain authorization from the Ministry of the Economy, on foreign investments, and from the European Commission, on questions of foreign subsidies.

At the same time, Casino entered “in exclusive negotiations” with Intermarché and Auchan to sell “almost all” of its large store network, which includes 313 hypermarkets and supermarkets. At the end of 2022, the group still had 200,000 employees worldwide, including 50,000 in France under various brands (Casino, Monoprix, Franprix or CDiscount).