While the Casino takeover battle took a new turn this week with the withdrawal of the Niel-Pigasse-Zouari trio (through their 3F holding company), what do employees think of this development?
At BFM Business on Tuesday, Thomas Meyer, the union representative for distribution group UNSA, first expressed his sadness at seeing the Casino go under for several years.
However, since 3F’s offer was withdrawn, the union representative says he is fairly calm. Paradoxically, it was the offer of the Czech businessman Daniel Kretinsky that was favored by the Unsa union, more than that of the trio of French investors. “We were very concerned about the project led by 3F, because they are investment funds,” says Thomas Meyer.
“Jean-Charles Naouri must leave his place”
By contrast, the offer from Daniel Kretinsky, associated with Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière (Fimalac), is mainly made up of capital with the injection of €1.2bn of new money into the heavily indebted group.
With the addition of the contribution of the partners’ investment funds, the Kretinsky project is the most appropriate, according to the trade unionist, to face the challenges of reactivating Casino. The group saw its turnover fall by 6.6% in France in the second quarter with a negative Ebitda estimated at -170 million euros in the period.
A group that, as the delegate hopes, should no longer have its current president, Jean-Charles Naouri, in its organization chart. “I have a lot of respect for the president of the group, he has contributed a lot but today he owes a debt to the employees, believes Thomas Meyer. He must support the project but he must also leave space. We arrived in a situation where he is the only one responsible.”
Source: BFM TV
