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Two European tycoons are battling over the future of a debt-laden French supermarket chain, writes Calum Muirhead.
Daniel Kretinsky, a Czech billionaire who is the biggest investor in the UK’s Royal Mail and has stakes in Sainsbury’s and West Ham FC, is facing off against Frenchman Xavier Niel, founder of telecoms firm Iliad and owner of Eir in Ireland.
Both have tabled bids to take control of Casino, one of France’s biggest grocery brands, which is restructuring to reduce debt that will see the value of many of its investor holdings drastically reduced.
The stock price has come under pressure after short-sellers targeted the shares amid growing concerns about its debt pile. It has fallen by 70% in a year and crashed by around a third yesterday as investors fled the prospect of a wipeout.
Casino also faces competition from rivals including German discounters such as Lidl. Restructuring means the controlling shareholder and chief executive, businessman Jean-Charles Naouri, will lose control and is likely to be forced off its board.
Kretinksy, 47, is offering £1.15bn in cash and has teamed up with some debtholders to convert some outstanding loans into shares, valuing the total bid at £1.5bn.
Nicknamed the ‘Czech Sphinx’ for his inscrutable approach to investing, he made his money by buying power plants through his energy business, EPH, which is a big player in the UK.
Niel is leading a consortium, which also includes French banker Matthieu Pigasse and entrepreneur Moez-Alexandre Zouari who runs many of Casino’s franchised stores, offering to invest £770m. The trio have secured the backing of creditors who hold £1.3bn worth of Casino debt.
Niel, 55, founded Iliad in 1990 and made a fortune breaking open the French telecoms market. A tax evader, Niel was fined around £214,000 and given a four-year suspended sentence in 2004.
In 2020 he admitted hacking French phones, including former president Francois Mitterrand’s. Both tycoons are halves of power couples.
Kretinsky married Anna Kellnerova (pictured), a horsewoman who competed in the 2020 Olympics and is the heiress of Petr Kellner, formerly the richest man in the Czech Republic, who died in 2021.
Niel’s partner is Delphine Arnault, boss of Dior and the daughter of Bernard Arnault, the world’s second-richest man who heads luxury goods giant LVMH. In the UK, Kretinsky owns 26.2% of Royal Mail’s parent company IDS – and 9.9% of Sainsbury’s.
Niel’s British interests include buying a 2.5% stake in telecoms giant Vodafone in September, sparking predictions of a major shakeup of a business that is struggling. But some have said the tussle over Casino is likely to divert his attention for some time, possibly providing relief for Vodafone’s new boss Margherita Della Valle.
And Niel and Kretinsky face the prospect of other rivals gatecrashing their war. The Mulliez family, which controls grocer Auchan, sporting goods retailer Decathlon and DIY chain Leroy Merlin, is thought to be considering joining Kretinsky. Grocer Carrefour has also been linked.
Photo (l-r): Xavier Niel and Daniel Kretinsky. (Pic: Reuters/Sarah Meyssonnier/AFP/Getty Images)
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