The restructuring of mass distribution is underway. The Les Mousquetaires/Intermarché and Auchan brands confirmed, Thursday, November 30, that they were interested in taking over all Casino supermarkets and hypermarkets with their employees, while the group’s employee representatives are very worried about the economic situation of their business.
It was Serge Papin, former boss of Système U and administrator since January 2023 of Auchan International, who was the first to officially confirm a candidacy for the takeover of the Casino stores.
This offer concerns “the whole [des magasins]”, a “reassuring” criterion from a social point of view, according to him. “Jobs are kept in the project” of Auchan and Intermarché, he affirmed, while qualifying: “there will be perhaps some logistical tools” included in the takeover offer, “but it mainly concerns the stores”. Intermarché has already agreed with Casino a few months ago for the purchase of 119 stores, plus around sixty in option. Around sixty changed brands at the beginning of October.
Exacerbated competition
Competition is very strong between major retail brands, exacerbated by inflation which for months has brought the sector leader, E.Leclerc, to a pace that its competitors are trying to follow, including by buying stores in order to to increase market share other than through commercial performance alone. Market share is essential in the balance of power with agro-industry suppliers. The greater the market share, the less the manufacturer can do without supplying this player and the more inclined he is to grant him better sales conditions.
The Casino group, in a perilous economic situation, had earlier in the week said it was ready to study expressions of interest, arousing the concern of staff representatives who gathered together as an inter-union group. He confirmed Thursday evening “having received indicative preliminary offers to date from several buyers, covering different areas of hypermarkets and supermarkets”, without giving further details on offers “under examination”.
No common front between Système U and Lidl
On the other hand, Système U denied joining forces with the discounter Lidl to take over Casino stores, as certain media indicated earlier in the day. “There is no alliance between Système U and Lidl for a takeover of stores of the Casino brand”, indicated on X (ex-Twitter) the CEO of Système U Dominique Schelcher.
Lidl France did not wish to comment. A few months ago, the brand, which is part of what is the 4th largest group in the sector worldwide (behind Walmart, Amazon and Costco), indicated to the British fund Attestor that it was interested in taking over around 300 Casinos. and 300 Monoprix, another brand of the group in financial difficulty.
Attestor is today part of the consortium applying for the takeover of Casino, a group of Saint-Etienne origins, alongside Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky and Frenchman Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière. The handover of the baton from the one who is still CEO and largest shareholder of the group, Jean-Charles Naouri, is planned for the first quarter of 2024.
“General mobilization”
In the meantime, employees fear that “Daniel Kretinsky is preparing to carve up the group, with a new wave of store sales which will have serious consequences for the other subsidiaries, logistics and head offices,” one of the employees recently explained. -speaker of the inter-union, Nathalie Devienne (FO).
“The media hype surrounding the sale of all Casino supermarkets and hypermarkets is intensifying day by day. The consortium (of buyers, Editor’s note) and general management refuse to deny this dismantling of the group,” lamented the unions in a leaflet posted Thursday at the company’s headquarters.
The five representative unions are calling on employees at the Saint-Etienne head office, as well as that of Vitry-sur-Seine, in Val-de-Marne, to “general mobilization” all day December 5 “to defend their jobs and their interests,” AFP learned Thursday evening. An event is planned in Saint-Etienne, cradle of the group founded 125 years ago by Geoffroy Guichard.