Daniel Kretinski (right) filed for a €1.8bn (£1.5bn) takeover bid, while Xavier Niel (left) joined forces to make a competitive offer. Photo: AFP via Getty Images.
An incomprehensible investor nicknamed “The Bohemian Sphinx” is poised for a showdown with a French spy turned tech billionaire in a battle for control of one of the country's largest supermarkets. .
Daniel Kretinsky will take on Xavier Niel in the fight for the indebted food empire Casino.
Mr Kretinsky, Sainsbury's second-largest investor, has bid for a €1.8bn (£1.5bn) takeover of the business.
Meanwhile, Mr Neil, a tech entrepreneur standing by for Free Mobile, joined forces with banker Mathieu Pigas and retail entrepreneur Moise-Alexandre Zouari to make a competing offer.
Shares in France's sixth-biggest food retailer have fallen sharply over the past few weeks thanks to a plan to reduce debt. Photo: Jeff Pachoud/AFP
Competition threatens to drive a wedge between the two tycoons who jointly own French newspaper Le Monde.
Mr Kretinsky's Novo Monde and Mr Neal's NJJ Presse each own 26.7 % of the newspaper's shares.
Niel, convicted of tax evasion, said he spied on former President François Mitterrand and car giant Renault in the 1980s for the French security agency.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kretinsky has emerged from relative obscurity to become one of the most prolific investors in Europe after making his seed money in the Czech Republic by purchasing power plants after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
At Mr. Kretinsky now there is capital. 10% stake in Sainsbury's and 26% stake in Royal Mail, making him the largest investor in the FTSE 100.
The Czech investor's business is offering 1.35 billion euros in cash along with a group of debt holders who will convert the loans into shares. According to reports, in a deal worth 1.8 billion euros. A spokesman for Mr Kretinsky declined to comment.
Meanwhile, the consortium, which includes Mr Niel, is offering €900m in capital but has the backing of secured creditors owing €1.5bn, the statement said. groups. He also benefits from the fact that Mr. Zuary already runs many Casino franchise stores.
Shares in Casino, France's sixth-biggest food retailer, have plummeted over the past few weeks after bosses were forced to admit investors would be 'massively' bred under a debt-reduction plan, plunging the value of their stakes.
The casino is currently controlled by Jean-Charles Naouri, an Algerian-born tycoon whose investment company Rallye has controlled Casino since the early 1990s.
However, now the businessman is likely to be forced to leave the Board of Directors of Casino. as about €5bn of the company's debt is being converted into equity.
Potential applicants for the business have been told that they will also need to inject at least €900m of new capital. The casino board is reviewing the betting proposals and will announce further steps on Wednesday evening.
Mr. Kretinski failed in a 2019 attempt to seize control of the German wholesale retailer Metro when his offer was rejected by the board of directors because it would put too much debt on the business. However, he still owns a 40% stake in Metro.
Meanwhile, Mr. Niel admitted in 2020 that he had hacked mobile phone data in France, including that of President Mitterrand.
< p> >He said he “wasn't in the secret service”, instead referring to himself as “sort of an honorary agent”.
Mr. Niel made his fortune by hacking France's closed telecommunications network. Iliad, the group he founded, owns the Free brand and is valued at about 11 billion euros on the Paris Stock Exchange.
Prior to his exploits in telecommunications, Mr. Niel offered online adult services on the internet's predecessor Minitel. In 2004, he was fined €250,000 and given a two-year suspended sentence for tax evasion. He was also arrested for profiting from prostitution, but found not guilty.
Niel's partner is Delphine Arnault, chairman and CEO of luxury brand Dior, and daughter of Bernard Arnault, founder of LVMH and one of the richest men in the world. The deplorable state of the Casino's finances has recently come under scrutiny.
executive director of the luxury brand Dior. Photo: Jean Catuffe/Getty Images Europe
At the end of 2015, rating agencies assigned the supermarket an investment grade, indicating that the level of debt is in line with the size of the company.
But since 2018, Mr. Nauri has been selling assets at reduced prices. cut a cumbersome pile of debt while other companies he owned through Rallye were placed under creditor protection.
Meanwhile, hedge funds bet against Casino's fortunes, putting further downward pressure on the company's share price .
But others can still get in the way of the billionaire battle for the casino.
The Mullier family, who own rival grocery store Auchan, Decathlon, and DIY chain Leroy Merlin, reached out to Mr. Kretinsky about that he imposed his bid.
And Carrefour, the second largest chain in France after E.Leclerc, analyzed the value of the stores owned by the Monoprix casino subsidiary, according to Le Monde.
Casino sales last year amounted to 33.6 billion euros. The company employs 50,000 people in France and 200,000 people worldwide, as well as in Latin America.
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