Court backs Casino in Cora case
illegally in buying a stake in one-time purchasing partner Cora,
and that it was in fact the latter chain which acted outside the
law by quitting the Opera buying group.
French supermarket group Casino has won its long-standing court case against compatriot Cora relating to the latter's decision to withdraw from the Opera central purchasing division in January 2002.
The French arbitration court announced on Monday that it believed Cora's reasons for breaking off its agreements with Casino were not justified. Cora had claimed that it was in fact Casino which had reneged on this agreement by agreeing in April 1999 to an equity swap with Deutsche Bank to acquire the latter's 42.9 per cent stake in Cora.
The court's decision means that Cora will have to pay back to Casino the sum of €61 million which the St Etienne-based company had provisionally paid in February 2002, which, with interest, will mean that the total due to Casino will reach €63.5 million.
The court decided not to punish Cora any further for its decision to break the buying partnership, and its decision cannot be appealed.
Deutsche Bank bought the stake in Cora in 2001 from Carrefour, which was obliged to sell it following a ruling from the European competition authorities. Cora itself was thought to have been interested in buying the stake, perhaps with a view to selling it on to another interested party, such as Wal-Mart.
