Casino, which has been run for thirty years by Jean-Charles Naouri, has changed hands within the framework of a financial restructuring imposed by the large debt and is under the control of Czech tycoon Daniel Kretinsky. Casino shares have plummeted more than 65% since the first exchanges on the Paris Stock Exchange, after trading had been suspended since Tuesday. Shortly before noon, its shares depreciated by 67.26% to 0.0350 euros, which was equivalent to a company valuation of less than 4,000 million euros. Taking this decline into account, the loss that has accumulated in the stock market since the beginning of the year is more than 95%.
In a statement published that Thursday, the French distribution group indicates that on Wednesday the set of operations of the safeguard plan decided by the Paris Commercial Court on February 26 was launched. This means in particular “a change of control” of the company “in favor of France Retail Holdings”, a Kretinsky entity, which in this operation is associated with the French fund Fimalac and the British Attestor. The company’s trading, which was suspended since Tuesday, will resume this Thursday on the Paris Stock Exchange. Casino’s share capital is now made up of 37,304,080,735 shares that represent 37,351,145.26 voting rights.
The change of hands is translated into a new management team, and in particular the arrival as CEO of Philippe Palazzi, former senior executive of Metro and Lactalis, who will be supported in the executive committee with some members who were already in that structure and for new ones. The president of the board of directors is Laurent Pietraszewski, who was French Secretary of State for Pensions under the current president, Emmanuel Macron.
All these appointments, which have taken place on a provisional basis, must be ratified at the next shareholders meeting called on June 11. Casino, which has in its portfolio different supermarket chains and stores with the brands Monoprix (800), Franprix (1,400), Petit Casino, Spar, Sherpa (6,400), as well as the organic products specialist Naturalia and the e-commerce division . Cdiscount, faced a debt established at 7.4 billion euros at the end of 2023. The objective of the restructuring negotiated with creditors is to reduce it to 2.6 billion in the coming years.
