The restructuring of Casino Group, one of France's top 6 retailers, is at the point of reaching a favourable outcome. An agreement is expected at the end of July 2023. The commonalities between the restructuring of Casino and Orpéa are the preservation of secured debt, the conversion of unsecured debt into capital, asset disposals and, of course, a significant injection of new money. 

With each restructuring, the French insolvency law, based on a combination of conciliation (confidential negotiations between the main stakeholders) and the application of Directive 2019/1023 (possibility of a cross class cram down, enforceable since the 1st November 2021), has demonstrated its ability to deal effectively with large groups experiencing financial difficulty.

In order to open conciliation proceedings under French law, the debtor should not be insolvent for more the 45 days.