Castorama has claimed a significant victory after a a French court appointed Rothschild et Cie as the independent advisers replacing Schroder Salomon Smith Barney to act as arbiter of Kingfisher's takeover bid for the shares it does not own in the French DIY group.

Rothschild replaced SSSB on Monday following an agreement between the two parties thrashed out in the Paris Commercial Court. The court agreed with the case brought by a group of Castorama's shareholders, known as the class A managing partners, who argued that there were too many conflicts of interest for SSSB to continue to act as the independent judge in Kingfisher's offer.