Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC) has reached an agreement with Orpea's creditors to take control of the heavily indebted retirement home operator, reports Libération on Tuesday.

The agreement would value Orpea, which has been in turmoil for the past year amid accusations of shortcomings in resident care, at 1.15 billion euros. It would also make Orpea its majority shareholder, with a 50.2% stake, according to the daily, which does not specify where it obtained this information.

Spokespersons for CDC and Orpea, which

requested on Monday

to suspend the listing of its shares and all its bonds, declined to comment on the transaction.

Caisse des Dépôts, which does not yet have a stake in Orpea, made an offer to take over the company earlier this month, but talks with an investor group led by CDC and creditors holding around 50% of its unsecured debt, worth 3.8 billion euros, broke down on January 19.

Orpea announced on Monday

the takeover

discussions.

According to Libération, the creditors have agreed to draw a line under 70% of 3.5 billion euros of debt, and the agreement will be officially validated by CDC on Wednesday.

Any agreement of this magnitude must be approved by CDC's supervisory commission, which is chaired by a member of parliament, said a spokesman for the financial institution.

The commission has not yet met, and the terms of the deal are still under discussion, the CDC spokesman said.

According to the latter, Orpea will make an announcement if an agreement is formally reached.

The group's shares fell by around 93% in 2022 after the publication of journalist Victor Castanet's book "Les fossoyeurs", which sparked a debate on practices within private retirement homes in France. (Reported by Bertrand Boucey and Mathieu Rosemain, with contributions from Silvia Aloisi, French version by Nicolas Delame and Diana Mandiá, edited by Blandine Hénault)