The specter of a marriage between Auchan and Carrefour once again agitates the financial markets.
The Carrefour title soared 5.09% Wednesday, to close at 17.25 euros.
An eruption triggered, at the beginning of the afternoon, by the dissemination of a Bloomberg dispatch revealing that Auchan was considering a new offer to buy Carrefour.
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Carrefour-Auchan, the secrets of a failed union
In mid-October, Alexandre Bompard, CEO of Carrefour, interrupted negotiations for a takeover by Auchan. The transaction would have been paid for 21.50 euros per share, 70% in cash and 30% in Auchan shares. But the scheme did not suit the Moulin family, Carrefour's largest shareholder (11%), which only envisages a 100% cash outflow.
But the Mulliez Family Association (AFM), which owns 97% of Auchan (the rest is owned by employees) has not mourned a marriage.
And for good reason: the AFM's management board estimates that it would make it possible to generate 2 billion euros in synergies and create 5 billion in industrial value, by pooling the assets and expertise of the two groups in distribution. physical, digital and customer data.
"When the outlines of this aborted project were made public, it aroused the interest of investment funds"
, assures an actor of the file.
"Not the right time"
In fact, since November, the investment banker Vincent Le Stradic (Lazard) and the lawyer Pierre-Yves Chabert (Cleary Gottlieb) have spared no efforts to negotiate with seven or eight funds and build a proposed offer. making it possible to offer Carrefour shareholders an exit entirely in cash.
They even hoped to be able to present an offer before Christmas to the Moulin family.
The ace.
So far, they haven't been successful, and there is no indication that they will.
According to our information, the hardest part is not so much to convince two or three funds to join a takeover bid.
It is to embark the majority of the AFM in an ambitious and complex project, to which Gérard Mulliez, the founder of Auchan, is opposed.
“Now is not the right time
,” admits a strong advocate of marriage.
