Food retail company Casino announced the completion of its financial restructuring on Thursday and said a new management team formed around Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky is taking control, ending the 30-year reign of casino owner Jean -Charles Naouri.
France’s seventh-largest supermarket group by market share has come to the brink of default after years of debt-financed takeovers and recent losses of market share to rivals.
The restructuring of Casino by a consortium led by billionaire Kretinsky massively dilutes the stake of current shareholders, particularly Naouri, who controlled Casino through his holding company Rallye.
The shares of the Casino, hit in recent days by the reserved capital increases linked to the recovery plan, fell by 65%, to 0.037 euros, upon returning to trading after the suspension on March 27.
Casino said the completion of the restructuring involved a change of control and the election of a new board, with former French Secretary of State for Pensions and Auchan executive Laurent Pietraszewski taking over the presidency of the new board, and former Metro and Lactalis executive Philippe Palazzi as CEO.
Casino’s new management includes Angelique Cristofari, former finance director of Louis Delhaize, as CFO of the supermarket group.
To ratify all these appointments, the shareholders’ meeting will be convened on June 11th.
In February, Casino reported a consolidated loss of 5.7 billion euros for 2023, compared to a loss of 316 million euros a year earlier, and said it would not issue a revised forecast for 2024 due to an impending change of leadership.
Source: Terra
Ashley is a professional author and journalist, working at 247 News Update. She writes on various topics from economy  news to general interest pieces, providing readers with relevant and informative content. She brings a unique perspective and in-depth analysis to her work.
