Casino shareholders grant French investor Fimalac board seat

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PARIS (Reuters) – Casino\’s shareholders have granted Fimalac, the French financial group owned by billionaire Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere, a seat on the board of the French retailer.

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Some 93.35% of votes cast at Casino\’s annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday approved a resolution appointing Fimalac deputy CEO Thomas Piquemal to the board.

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Fimalac, which has a 2.6% stake in Casino, agreed in March to provide new financing facilities for Rallye , the parent company of Casino, which has been under pressure to cut its debts.

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By bringing in new financing from Fimalac, Casino ended a previous arrangement with Czech businessman Daniel Kretinsky, who had initially been offered a Casino board seat.

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VESA Equity Investment, controlled by Kretinsky, had raised its stake in Casino to 6.88% of the capital and 5.17% of the voting rights in March.

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But in April, VESA lowered its stake in Casino to 4.99% of the voting rights through the sale of Casino shares.

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(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Alexander Smith)

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