Virginie, 83, was a historic shareholder of Orpea. In 2007, a few years after the Ehpad group’s IPO, it acquired fifty shares for around 3,800 euros. Fifty shares which quickly became 100 after the company carried out a “split” of its shares, a split to reduce the unit price of the share. “And then, I reinvested my dividends to buy 25 more,” recalls this resident of Aubagne (Bouches-du-Rhône), neighbor of an Orpea retirement home, at the foot of Garlaban.
Everything was going well for her until the release, at the end of January 2022, of the book “Les Fossoyeurs” by Victor Castanet describing the excesses of the retirement home giant. The share price, then at more than 100 euros, will inexorably collapse as the group sinks deeper into crisis. Until reaching 0.01 euros per share. And the Virginie securities will even be canceled at the end of the share consolidation carried out at the beginning of 2024, since it was necessary to contribute 1,000 shares to obtain a new Orpea share.