It is a reversal of the situation which put an end to long weeks of negotiations. When this Sunday, July 16, the 3F consortium led by Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse and Moez-Alexandre Zouari gave up taking over Casino, the doors of the Saint-Etienne group then opened entirely to Daniel Kretinsky. Carrying the other and only remaining offer, the Czech billionaire should, barring any surprises, become the buyer of the distributor with $6.4 billion in debt at the end of 2022. For this, he was able to benefit from the support of billionaire Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, but above all benefited from the volte-face of a pivotal player in this operation: the British investment fund Attestor.
How did this Attestor fund, unknown to the general public not even a month ago, become the cornerstone of the takeover? It was precisely the announcement of the withdrawal of the 3F group from the takeover of Casino that highlighted the central role of this player, which usually favors the shadow of financial transactions. Because originally, it was with the Niel-Pigasse-Zouari trio that Attestor worked on the takeover of the owner of the Monoprix, Casino and Franprix stores, before changing sides the day before the tenders were submitted. An act perceived as treason by the French trio, which denounced in a press release the fact that Attestor had “participated in a competing offer before the submission of offers” without ever communicating it to 3F, “while continuing to participate in meetings” of the consortium. The Niel-Pigasse-Zouari clan does not rule out initiating legal reprisals against the British fund led by the German Jan-Christoph Peters.
A specialist in debt restructuring
Sudden way to make a name for himself in the economic landscape. But, having become a creditor of the Casino group a few months ago, this British hedge fund, created in 2011, is far from unknown to the French market. First participating in the restructuring of the water distributor Saur in 2013, he was above all very influential in the takeover of the Europcar group by Volkswagen in 2020, also returning to the transition to the capital of the vehicle rental company. Like other funds of this type, this is Attestor’s specialty. First, buy debt from companies in (great) difficulty. Then, when a restructuring plan is announced, participate in the recapitalization, become a shareholder and hope to benefit from it in the future.
In any case, some do not hide their doubts as to the intentions of the British fund. Without quoting Attestor by name, the UNSA Casino union said in a press release on July 14 – while Attestor still seemed to be in the 3F camp – “to take a dim view of the takeover of the Casino group by vulture funds”, explaining “that such a takeover could only have harmful effects for employment” and still fearing the scenario “of a cut sale” of the distributor.
Discussions between Lidl and Attestor
In this sense, the revelation in the newspaper The world of discussions having taken place between the German distributor Lidl and Attestor for a possible takeover of nearly 600 stores of the Casino group clearly did not help the image of the hedge fund. Is Attestor already preparing the dismantling of the French distributor? Nay, we retort from the side of the British fund. He denounces an instrumentalization of these negotiations, which would have taken place when Attestor leaned more on the side of 3F, and did not close any door as for the search for financing missing from the takeover offer of the Niel-Pigasse-Zouari trio. A problem that did not arise for Daniel Kretinsky’s offer, whose main weakness was the lack of support from the Casino group’s creditors, resolved by the rallying of the most influential of them: Attestor.
Same story on the side of the Czech billionaire’s entourage, contacted by L’Express, where it is assured that Attestor had in any case “not followed up” on Lidl’s proposals, and that there is currently “no discussion” because the Attestor fund is now “committed over the long term with us for the revival and development of the Casino group”.
“I do not think that the presence of Attestor will change anything in Kretinsky’s plan in the short term, analyzes a person familiar with the matter. But I imagine that depending on the evolution of the progress of the turnaround or not of Casino, the fund will have a say if the turnaround does not go as hoped”.
infog empire of kretinsky
© / The Express
A necessarily short-term vision
“The Casino affair reminds one thing: those who have the power are those who have the money”, explains Olivier Dauvers, specialist in mass distribution. Before completing: “Casino may be saved on the financial level, but it is not at all on the commercial side. The future management of Casino will have less time to succeed in relaunching the machine, because there will be a powerful investment fund in the capital of the group, whose interest remains opportunistic and short-termist.”
Because for Attestor, the equation remains simple: either the company recovers economically, or the fund will recover its investments in another way. With the sale of assets as a totally feasible option.
The entry of a fairly opaque investment fund unknown to the general public in any case testifies to a real shift in the retail sector in France. “This sector has always had a French culture, held mainly by a few historic families, such as the Mulliez family for Auchan, or formerly the Guichard family for the Casino group, explains Sophie Heitz-Spahn, lecturer at the University of Lorraine and specialized in mass distribution. But what concerns me, it is what is the knowledge of this sector of activity and of the French market behind these group takeovers by foreign players, and in particular this investment fund.” Casino may not be dead. But it is still far from flourishing again.