Groupe Philippe Ginestet subsidiary, Casigrangi, has reportedly been given the nod by the French Ministry of the Interior to acquire at least 79.37 percent of the share capital along with voting rights of Paris-based company Société Française de Casinos (SFC) (SFCA:EN Paris).

In its November 5, 2020 press release (pdf), the French casino group (SFC) said it “had informed its shareholders that the planned acquisition of Casigrangi was conditional on the fulfilment of several conditions precedent including the acquisition of at least 50.1 per cent of the share capital and voting rights of SFC and approval of the acquisition project by the Ministry of the Interior.

Circus Group action:

“Groupe Circus has been entirely dismissed of its requests by the Paris Commercial Court aimed at forcing Frameliris to conclude a deed of sale under the terms of which the Circus Group would acquire all of the Company’s shares held by Frameliris at a price of 1.50 euros, and to prohibit the sale of the company’s securities held by Frameliris to any person other than the Circus Group (and therefore, in fact, to prohibit the sale of said securities to Casigrangi).”

The Circus Group (Ardent Group) has reportedly appealed the decision.

“Insofar as Frameliris has confirmed to Casigrangi the free transferability of the shares it holds in SFC, SFC and Casigrangi consider that these ongoing procedures of Groupe Circus do not preclude the continuation of the acquisition project by Casigrangi. Some customary technical conditions precedent remain to be lifted in order to finalize the acquisition transaction planned by Casigrangi,” added the SFC.

Shareholders informed:

In July this year, SFC informed its shareholders of Casigrangi’s plan to take control of the casino group and had entered into an exclusive memorandum of understanding and transfer protocols allowing the acquisition, at a price of €1.70 per share, 42.32 percent of the share capital and voting rights of the company, according to an earlier report.

Casigrangi is the holding company of the group of casinos known under the brand Stelsia Casino, which owns casinos operating in Granville, Megève and Mimizan.

Established in 1995, Société française de Casinos owns and operates four casinos in France, including Casino de Châtel-Guyon, Casino de Collioure, Casino de Gruissan, and Casino Port la Nouvelle and is active in the restaurant, hotel, shows and events businesses.