The 3F holding company, through which the trio intended to take over Casino, wrote in a press release on Sunday that it “refuses to participate in a biased process, the company having obviously already chosen its buyer”.
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He leaves his hand. The trio Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse and Moez-Alexandre Zouari announced on Sunday July 16 that they would give up their offer to take over the distributor Casino, which is awash in debt. Daniel Kretinsky’s offer, supported by Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, remains the only one in the running. The latter provides for the injection of 1.35 billion euros in equity, including more than 900 million euros from themselves, at the rate of 750 million for the Czech billionaire and 150 million for the Frenchman.
The 3F holding company, through which the trio intended to take over Casino, wrote in a press release that it “refuses to participate in a biased process, the company having obviously already chosen its buyer”. She claims not to have “received the requested information” on several points of Casino’s financial situation. The districteur must renegotiate his crushing debt, announced at 6.4 billion euros at the end of 2022. He must also raise at least 900 million euros in equity.
The “3F” camp planned to inject the same amount into the group. Half of this contribution would have been in the form of equity, also matched by creditor investment funds from Casino, Attestor, Davidson Kempner and Farallon Capital, according to the terms of the offer published by Casino. The other half would have been made in the form of a debt issue. But the Attestor group “has participated in a competing bid before the submission of bids” Friday without ever saying it and “while continuing to participate in 3F meetings”denounces the press release on Sunday.