THE OFFS OF LEGENDRE. The operator of retirement homes and clinics is the subject of numerous rumors surrounding a possible recapitalization. The Caisse des Dépôts firmly denies this.
The rumor has been circulating throughout Paris for several weeks: despite a recapitalization of nearly 4 billion euros last year, Emeis, formerly Orpéa, is once again in a critical financial situation.
There would still be a shortage of 1.5 billion euros to make up for the losses of a group over-indebted to nearly 5 billion and which saw its occupancy rate collapse after the publication of the best-seller THE Gravediggersthe punchy book by Victor Castanet which denounced internal mistreatment and the crazy management of the former management team.
Called for help to save the operator of retirement homes and clinics, “the Caisse des Dépôts and Maif (respectively first and second shareholders of Emeis, editor’s note) will have to get back into the pot,” says a very well-informed source. to BFM Business, which highlights serious internal organizational difficulties, with cascading departures, such as that at the beginning of September of the financial director in September or more recently the departure of the operations director.
“No significant restructuring”
The same source denounces a new management team coming from large French groups – Suez, Orange…, from the Elysée or from the financial inspectorate for some, but overall without skills in terms of managing the elderly.
-Criticisms brushed aside by the Caisse des Dépôts, which on the contrary underlines the “very good work” of recovery carried out over the past two years by the team of the new general director, Laurent Guillot, “in complicated conditions, even if they are not specialists in old age.
As for a possible recapitalization of the former leader of retirement homes, the CDC provides a formal denial. “We are not going to enter a significant restructuring phase,” says a senior executive at the Caisse. The needs will be financed by “disposals of real estate assets” and “a refocusing of activities in Europe or even France” to straighten out the accounts.
“We have value that we will use to get through the current crisis,” adds this same source.
A crisis that is expected to continue. Perhaps until 2028-2029, years during which the sector expects an explosion in demand for nursing homes. “We have to hold on until then,” the CDC is told. Four to five years anyway…
