the Attestor fund withdraws its stake from the parent company and leaves even more influence to Kretinsky

The disengagement was expected but perhaps not so quickly, according to some analysts. The British fund Attestor, which is part of the consortium that took over Casino alongside billionaires Daniel Kretinsky and Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, intends to reduce its stake in the capital of the Saint-Etienne group. By June 30, Trinity, the company managed by Attestor, plans to sell its 7.65% stake in France retail Holdings controlled by Daniel Kretinsky and which holds 53.04% of the capital of Casino, announced the group in a press release.

More specifically, the agreement concerns the sale of Trinity's stake in France Retail Holdings to the Czech businessman's company EPEI, which thus further increases its control over the group. And for good reason. France Retail Holding is today almost 77% owned by Daniel Kretinsky's companies, 15.4% by Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière's Fimalac company and 7.65% by Trinity.

This operation, scheduled “by June 30, 2025 subject to» of obtaining the necessary authorizations, thus unbinding the shareholders' agreement between the three players who took control of the distributor in financial difficulty at the end of March. In its press release, however, the group recalls “that to date Trinity directly holds 10.05% of the capital of Casino” and which it retains at this stage.

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This sale comes a week after the announcement of the group's strategic recovery plan by 2028 by the general director, Philippe Palazzi. With this plan which seems to have disappointed investors who were hoping for short-term returns, management hopes to reach the « return to profitability » in 2026 and annual growth in business volume of 3.7% between 2024 and 2028. However, the recovery promises to be complicated, in particular for the two flagships Monoprix and Franprix which have suffered from glaring underinvestment in recent years . However, the financial framework is constrained. To raise the bar, Philippe Palazzi has a total investment of 1.2 billion euros. « This investment is much more than what has been made in the past, given the size of the group », assured the manager, however aware that the transformation would « take time ».