Nauri's power play begins

All,

And there it is: Casino have stopped paying dividends. 

- On the one hand the Nauri was clearly forced to cut the dividend, given Casino's liquidity outlook (see liquidity analysis here). Hence the final filing of Rallye. 

- On the other, it makes little sense feeding the Rallye estate with hundreds of millions now that it’s in Sauvegarde. Harbouring the cash at Casino is a way for Nauri to start withholding value from unsecured Rallye bondholders and at best distributing it to those with share pledges. First and foremost he is withholding value / building power - just like you’d expect him to.

Also, S&P have downgraded Casino Group by two notches to B on concerns over its corporate governance with Rallye in Sauvegarde. 

Wolfgang