The Casino group is in “exclusive negotiations” to sell “almost all” of its large stores to Intermarché and Auchan, in order to reduce its massive debt.
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Is concentration in the mass distribution sector too rapid? The Intermarché group declared that it was forced to resell three of the 61 stores bought from Casino in October, at the request of the Competition Authority, Wednesday December 27.
“The Competition Authority has expressed very serious doubts about competition in the catchment area” of these three large stores, declared the management of Groupement Les Mousquetaires. The stores concerned are the hypermarkets of Vals-près-le-Puy (Haute-Loire) and Lons-le-Saunier (Jura), as well as the supermarket of Plouaret (Côtes-d’Armor). The establishments were bought by the Intermarché group in October as part of the sale of assets from the Casino group, strangled by massive debt.
“We are waiting to receive written notification of this decision in January, which we regret for the members concerned and their employees, but we will comply with this decision”, added the Les Mousquetaires Group. For its part, the Competition Authority indicated that it could not comment on this “file still under investigation within [son] concentration service” And “for which a decision could be made in January”.
“It’s unbearable for the employees”
“Humanly, it’s unbearable for the employees”, reacted Christophe Romeuf, CGT union delegate at the Vals-près-le-Puy hypermarket. In this hypermarket, “the 110 employees feel worried, even if there is a 99% chance that we will be bought out […] by Carrefour or Leclerc”underlined Stéphane Barriol, FO delegate.
In December, Casino entered “exclusive negotiations” to give in “almost all” of its large store network at Intermarché and Auchan, i.e. 313 points of sale. The Saint-Etienne distributor signed an agreement in July providing for the restructuring of its debt and a change of shareholding by March-April 2024, with the arrival of Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, Frenchman Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière and the British fund Attestor.