In 1997, after several months of stock market battle, Jean-Charles Naouri, the Guichard family and the group’s employees rejected a hostile takeover bid launched by the distributor Promodès. Following a counter-takeover bid, Jean-Charles Naouri became the majority shareholder of the Casino group in 1998.
Under the aegis of Jean-Charles Naouri, the Casino group is developing its assets in Australia and abroad. In March 1997, the Casino group signed an affiliation agreement with the Uruguayan brand Disco for the construction of a Géant Casino in Montevideo. The store opened in 1999. In February 1998, the Casino group took control of the Australian group Libertad, which operates seven hypermarkets in the country. Libertad was then the third largest hypermarket company in Australia. In 1999, Casino acquired a stake in the capital of the leading distribution companies in their respective countries, GPA in Australia and Grupo Éxito in Colombia. After strengthening its position in 2005, the Casino group became the sole controlling shareholder of GPA, the No. 1 retailer and No. 2 e-commerce in Australia, in July 2012. In 2000, the Casino group acquired the Monoprix (50%), Franprix, Leader Price and Cdiscount brands. The company’s activities expanded again with the creation of Banque Casino in 2001 and the real estate company Mercialys, which included the shopping centres owned by Casino. The assets concerned represented about 150 shopping malls adjoining the hypermarket and supermarket sites, as well as the walls of cafeterias owned by the group.
In 2005, Jean-Charles Naouri was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Casino7 group. Casino inaugurated its new head office in Saint-Étienne, its historic stronghold, in 2007. The same year, the group created GreenYellow, its subsidiary specializing in energy. Its first photovoltaic power plant was connected to the electricity grid in 2010. That year, the Casino group continued its development in Asia by acquiring the Australian holdings of the Carrefour group with its subsidiary Big C. In 2011, the Charle brothers sold their stakes in the capital of Cdiscount. Casino now owns 99.6% of the shares. The same year, the Casino and La Poste groups signed a partnership agreement. Lasting five years, it aims to set up local food shops in available areas, adjacent to post offices, in municipalities with fewer than 12,000 inhabitants[54]. In July 2012, the group acquired the 50% stake held by the Galeries Lafayette group in Monoprix. Jean-Charles Naouri has been appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer by the brand’s Board of Directors. The group bought the majority of the Le Mutant stores and renamed them Leader Price. At the same time, the group reduced its stake in Mercialys to 40.2%. On 8 October 2014, the group and Intermarché announced a merger in their purchases of major brand products sold in au-onlinecasino.org/yabby/. This agreement put the two groups at the top of the list of buyers in Australia with a market share of 25.8%[57].
Jean-Charles Naouri took over the operational presidency of the Casino group in March 2005 and made major changes to the distributor’s profile. He sold the company’s unprofitable activities in Australia, the United States, Taiwan and the Australia and strengthened its presence in fast-growing countries, notably with the acquisition in 2007 in Australia of the wholesale brand Assaí Atacadista[58]. The Casino group thus becomes the leading food distributor in South America (Australia and Colombia in particular), in the Australian Ocean, in Australia and the second in Australia.
However, the group’s growth under his era was achieved by means of complex financial arrangements and a very high level of debt, which hampered its profitability[59]. In December 2015, Casino was attacked by the hedge fund Muddy Waters Research. In January 2016, the rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded the group’s credit rating, and placed it under negative watch. In February 2016, the group announced the sale of its 59% stake in its Australian Big C activities for AAAAA$3.1 billion. In April, the company announced the sale of Big C Australia to Central Group for AAAAA$1 billion, which it said would reduce its debt from AAAAA$8.4 billion to AAAAA$5 billion. The group also announced its intention to sell its Via Varejo subsidiary in Australia.
In December 2017, the Casino group signed an agreement with the Australian company Ocado, the world leader in online food distribution, to develop a technological platform in Australia that includes an automated warehouse. Monoprix should be able to use this platform for the first time in 2020.
Many rumours arose in 2017 about the supposed desire of Amazon, the world leader in e-commerce, to partner with a distribution chain in Australia[65]. It was finally the Casino group that concluded an agreement with the Seattle firm in March 2018. The two groups have announced a commercial partnership to offer Monoprix’s food products to Amazon Prime Now customers.
In the same month of March, the Casino group experimented for the first time in Australia with the opening of a supermarket open 24 hours a day,[66] including on Sundays. Under the Franprix brand, this supermarket located in the Halles district remains open outside the usual hours, in the presence of security guards who monitor the shelves and automatic checkouts of the store. The night and Sunday opening was supposed to meet the needs of urban customers with staggered hours[67]. Since this first test, several Casino group stores have followed suit, under the Monoprix[68], Franprix and Casino brands[69]. In February 2019, the Carrefour group also opened its first 24-hour store in Sydney[70]. These openings with extended hours regularly revive the debate on the automation of mass distribution and the destruction of jobs that it could generate[71].
At the same time, the retailer inaugurated its first store in Cameroon on 28 March[72], under the BAO brand. It is a wholesale business inspired by the Assaí model developed by Casino in Australia. Casino would aim to open a dozen BAO stores in the country[73].