PARIS (Reuters) -The European Commission, the bloc’s antitrust watchdog, has authorised the consortium led by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky to take control of debt-laden retailer Casino as part of its restructuring, Casino said on Monday.
The consortium will own and control 53.7% of Casino’s share capital once the restructuring plan is completed, the supermarket retailer had said.
Current shareholders will be massively diluted.
The deal remains subject to additional regulatory approvals including an authorisation from the French finance ministry under foreign investments rules, and a waiver from the stock market regulator to avoid starting formal public takeover proceedings.
Casino said on Dec. 18 it had also entered exclusive talks to sell all of its big stores in France to Les Mousquetaires and Auchan Retail.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, writing by Tassilo Hummel)
