Casino CEO Might Seek New Partner to Keep Control, Garnier Says
Casino CEO Might Seek New Partner to Keep Control, Garnier Says
(Bloomberg) -- Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA Chief Executive Officer Jean-Charles Naouri is probably looking for a financial or industrial partner who can inject enough money in the troubled French retailer to repay part of its debt and enable him to retain majority control, according to one analyst.
Casino could be looking for help from private-equity funds or Amazon.com Inc. for this purpose, Clement Genelot, analyst at Bryan Garnier & Co. in Paris, wrote in a note. Naouri’s prospects at the helm of Casino are in question after most of the debt-laden network of parent companies through which he has controlled it -- including investment vehicle Rallye SA -- obtained protection from creditors Thursday.
“There’s a real risk that bondholders become majority shareholders at Rallye and that Mr. Naouri loses control and falls even below the blocking minority threshold,” wrote Genelot, who has a neutral recommendation on Casino shares. “Yet, we believe Mr. Naouri is already looking for a financial/industrial partner.”
Amazon or Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. would have financial capacity to buy Rallye’s entire stake in Casino, but the offer price would have to reach 60 euros a share to at least offset the debt owed by Rallye and its holdings, the analyst wrote. Casino was trading at about 31 euros in Paris mid-afternoon Monday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Albertina Torsoli in Geneva at atorsoli@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Beth Mellor at bmellor@bloomberg.net, Tom Lavell, John Viljoen
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.