Groupe Casino opens conciliation procedure to pursue talks with creditors

By Mary-Katherine Stinson

Lexington, Ky., May 26 – Casino Guichard-Perrachon (Groupe Casino) has entered a conciliation procedure period to facilitate talks with creditors after wrapping a successful consent solicitation so that it can enter the conciliation period without that action constituting an event of default, according to a notice.

Consent has been received from lenders under the company’s senior secured term loan B and revolver. Additionally, noteholders of the senior notes due 2026 (ISIN: XS2276596538), its senior notes due 2027 (ISIN: XS2328426445) and Quatrim’s senior secured notes due 2024 (ISINs: XS2010039118, XS2010038490) consented to the appointment.

The president of the Paris Commercial Court opened a conciliation procedure for the company and certain subsidiaries for an initial period of four months, which may be extended by one month.

Thevenot Partners (Aurelia Perdereau) and BTSG (Marc Senechal) were appointed as conciliators.

The company is in ongoing discussions with the Teract group and Groupement Les Mousquetaires and is considering a proposal made by EP Global Commerce.

As previously reported, EP Global Commerce is a Czech company controlled by Daniel Kretinsky, affiliated with VESA Equity Investment, which is a shareholder of Casino with a 10.06% stake in Casino’s share capital. EP Global Commerce plans to subscribe to a reserved capital increase of up to €750 million in Casino’s share capital and to offer shareholder Fimalac the opportunity to subscribe to a reserved capital increase of up to €150 million.

Casino and Teract are pursuing a potential combination.

Casino’s board of directors has formed an ad hoc committee of independent directors and members of the audit committee to examine the projects and monitor the conciliation procedure.

Trading of Casino’s shares and other listed securities were suspended on May 22 and will resume May 26.

The company clarified in the release that the conciliation procedure only concerns the company’s debt and will not impact the company’s operations.

The consent solicitation expired on May 19.

Kroll (casino@is.kroll.com) was the tabulation and information agent for the bondholder consultation.

The issuer is a mass retailer with headquarters in Saint-Etienne, France.

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