Orpea will survive. This is essentially the speech given by Laurent Guillot on the set of BFM Business this Monday night. While the company’s shares have plunged in the stock market for several weeks, the group’s chief executive said shareholders “just like the company and residents have been robbed and victimized by previous management. They have lost everything.” he lamented, referring to the refounding plan that will lead to a massive dilution of shares by transforming debt into equity.
Neither a nationalization nor a takeover
According to Laurent Guillot, the company has found the best solution by obtaining an entry into the capital of the Caisse des dépôts and the two mutuals CSP Assurances and MAIF. “There will be an appeal, litigation as in all financial restructurings of this magnitude […] but they will not be a difficulty for the company”, he insisted.
On the other hand, the manager recalled that the recent operation was neither a nationalization nor a form of takeover bid while the Caisse des dépôts will own slightly less than 30% of the capital while the mutuals will share 22%: “The group takes the control but there is no actor taking individual control […] The board of directors will be partly revamped and will include directors drawn from the Caisse des dépôts and the two mutuals.
Sustainable debt by 2025
The CEO believes that now “the company is saved”: “The debt will be around 5 or 6,000 million euros in 2025 and it will be completely sustainable. We will have ratios comparable to those of our colleagues in the sector and we will have put the company back on track a position to pay what should be”. To do this, the group plans to lighten its balance sheet by putting “the center of activity on care and support.” Geographically, Orpea will once again focus on France, but also on Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.
Sign of the desire to “refound” the group, Laurent Guillot indicated that the company had hired 800 people per month since the start of the school year in September and claimed a 10% higher management fee between January 2022 and 2023. “We started working on the values of the company, what makes us work together, what unites us in this company, he said. At the same time, we work on our reason for being. Then we will think about the name and see how to move towards a company with a mission”.
Source: BFM TV
