Ehpad: Orpea Group once again puts itself under the protection of justice to renegotiate its debt

In turmoil since the work of journalist Victor Castante was launched in January, grave diggers, The group of private residence establishments for the dependent elderly (Ehpad) announced on Wednesday October 26 that it has opened new amicable reconciliation proceedings before the Nanterre Commercial Court, in order to renegotiate its debts with its creditors.

“The company is heavily indebted due to the international and real estate development that was carried out at a frenetic pace, at the initiative of the previous public administration”Explained its new general manager, Laurent Gillot. “The amicable conciliation procedure allows us to renegotiate with the financial players about our debt situation and, at the same time, protect our employees and residents.”, he added. The intended target will be Convert a portion of Orpea’s debt into equity and raise money back in debt and equity from investors.

Orpea has already implemented an amicable settlement procedure this year, enabling it to reach an agreement with its banks to secure its financing. But the group may not be able to comply due to various factors, such as inflation. Orpea also expects more writedowns, estimated at between 2.1 billion and 2.5 billion euros, according to a press release. Orpea situation was also “Heavily affected by the breaches and moral outages of the previous administration”Mr. Guillot insisted.

Three-year group transformation plan

Mr. Guillot explained that the group decided to complete the complaint against X already submitted to the courts, this time explicitly targeting the company’s former official, Yves Le Masne. “I can’t imagine for a moment that Yves Le Massin (…) He didn’t measure all the responsibility he hadMr. Guillot commented.

Orpea is present in 23 countries and operates more than 350 institutions in France. In the investigation book grave diggersThe group is accused of population abuse, accounting fraud, and questionable human resource practices.

Justice opened a preliminary investigation in April into institutional mistreatment and financial crimes, following a government report. The group says it has taken steps to change its practices and plans to detail its three-year turnaround plan on November 15.

At the end of September, Orpea announced that it wants to “Better care for residents, employees and caregivers thanks to an ambitious Employment and Continuing Education programme”. It plans to hire 550 people a month by the end of the year, half of whom will be nursing assistants. It aims to increase employment to 800 per month in 2023.

Since the scandal, its headline has seen a stunning drop in the Paris Stock Exchange. The measure, whose course was suspended on Monday, was offered at €14.74 on Friday at the close of the session, a drop of 83% since the beginning of the year. But in the past week, the stock price rose 37%, without you being able to explain it with any significant news or announcements. The title took about 10% during each of the first three sessions of the week. Analysts interviewed by AFP put forward the pull-back of bearish bets as a possible explanation, while remaining cautious. Trading will resume on Wednesday when the markets open.

The group posted a net loss of 269 million euros in the first six months of the year, impacted by inflation and write-downs.