French retail behemoth Casino Guichard Perrachon revealed earlier today [Thursday] that a buyout deal has been signed with beleaguered Dutch supermarket group Laurus.
Agreeing to channel €200m (US$175.3m) into Laurus, Casino will initially buy a 37.6% stake. The deal also offers the firm the six-year option to raise its holding to 51% through the purchase of the 13.4% share currently owned by three Dutch banks; ABN Amro Holding, ING Groep, and Rabobank.
Without providing any details, Casino insisted that the Laurus deal would be earnings enhancing from 2003.
Casino said that the deal will give Laurus, which has been struggling to keep afloat in the face of rising debt created by the costly conversion of its various supermarket subsidiary chains into a single format, “the means to implement a restructuring and integration plan for its centralized services and focus on its core formats in the Netherlands”.
Casino also reported yesterday a 20% rise in 2001 net profit to €379m, from €314.9m in 2000, and revealed in a statement that it is “highly confident” in its ability to generate 20% annual net profit growth in the next few years, in addition to a 10%-plus growth in revenue.