The shares of the French Casino Guichard-Perrachon, owner of Almacenes Éxito through the Brazilian GPA, plummeted 42 percent this Wednesday on the Paris Stock Exchange, as investors weigh competing bids to bail out retail chain from groups headed by two billionaireseach of which would leave existing holders with next to nothing.
(Read also: The reasons of the Brazilian GPA to carry out the actions of Grupo Éxito on Wall Street)
The first offer is from the French telecommunications businessman Xavier Niel and the Czech financier Daniel Kretinsky. Despite its debt problems, the company attracts potential investors due to the privileged advantages of its Monoprix and Franprix stores in Paris and other French cities.
The group led by Niel, known as 3F, also includes banker Matthieu Pigasse and retail businessman Moez-Alexandre Zouari.
(You may also be interested in: Grupo Éxito wants to list its shares in the United States).
With the help of secured creditors, his offer would inject $979 million of fresh money into the business, though the equity portion is only $470 million. Casino met on Wednesday night with representatives of the French finance ministry and creditors to discuss the proposals, sources said.
The group closed 2022 with a debt of 6,400 million euros (6,975 million dollars).
Jaime Gilinski, Colombian investoralso made an offer for 836 million dollarswhich was immediately rejected by the organization’s directives after considering that this was a very low price.
The proposals
Xavier Niel, Moez-Alexandre Zouari and Matthieu Pigasse, new interested in the rescue or acquisition of the French Casino.
Businessmen Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse and Moez-Alexandre Zouari plan to invest 900 million euros ($981 million) with “their financial partners,” they said in a statement.
The Niel-led trio had previously indicated it would provide the financing through a French-registered joint investment vehicle called 3F Holding, and was willing to inject up to 300 million euros and partner with other interested parties for the remaining amount.
Billionaires Daniel Kretinsky and Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière also proposed a total recapitalization of 1.8 billion euros (1.96 billion dollars), including 500 million euros (545 million dollars) in debt-for-equity swaps.
Kretinsky and Fimalac had previously made an offer for control of Casino, which reached 1,100 million euros of shares. Its previous offering had less room for third parties to invest.
Casino is in a court-supervised restructuring process known as conciliation.
