The rating agency Fitch announced Wednesday to lower the rating of Casino by one notch from CCC- to CC, corresponding to a "very significant risk of default", the day after the announcement of the distribution group to give itself a little more time before a possible conciliation to renegotiate its debt. Tuesday evening, Casino, in financial difficulties, had indicated that it left until May 23, 17:00, before requesting the opening of a conciliation procedure with its creditors to allow it to renegotiate its debt. The distributor, which employs more than 50,000 people in France and 200,000 worldwide under many brands, including Monoprix or Franprix, has been struggling for years to get out of debt, so far without success. It is indebted to the tune of 6.4 billion euros at the end of 2022 (including 4.5 billion on its France activity), to which are added more than three billion in debt for the parent company of the group, Rallye.
This downgrade was decided following "the appointment by Casino of financial and legal advisors to facilitate discussion with its creditors while exploring its various strategic options", a designation "which we believe will lead to a form of debt restructuring," says Fitch.
Tuesday, Thierry Blandinières, CEO of the InVivo group which is the main shareholder of Teract, on the ranks to take over the French activity of Casino, had created the surprise by saying on Radio Classique that a conciliator would "be appointed on May 22" at the bedside of the group of Saint-Etienne origin. Mercrdi, Fitch states that Teract's project "was not included in its analysis due to uncertainties about the form (that would take) its execution". Another offer is led by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, already a 10% shareholder in Casino, and who proposed on April 24 to inject 750 million euros into Casino via a reserved capital increase of more than one billion euros in total. On May 9, S&P, another rating agency, had lowered Casino's main rating - from "CCC+" to "CCC-" - and threatened a further downward revision due to "the growing probability of a default", in the absence of "favorable developments".
