The debt of Casino, which also owns Grupo Pão de Açúcar (GPA) in Brazil and Grupo Éxito in Colombia, amounted to 6.4 billion euros (6.86 billion dollars) at the end of 2022, mostly due to its activity in France.
Faced with a restructuring of its debt with its creditors, the French court agreed on Thursday to open a four-month conciliation procedure, which meanwhile allows the group and its management to continue with its activity.
Pending this announcement, Casino suspended its listing on the Paris stock market on Tuesday, which it resumed this Friday with losses of 9.62% at the beginning of the exchanges. Since the beginning of the year, its share has lost more than a third of its value.
In parallel, the group announced an agreement with Intermarché, the third supermarket chain in France, to transfer more than one hundred stores in two stages, whose turnover amounts to 1,150 million euros (1,234 million dollars).
The Les Mousquetaires group, owner of Intermarché, will initially pay Casino 100 million euros (107 million dollars) with the “signing of binding agreements”, a value that will be deducted from the final price of the operation.
Casino has been fighting for years to get out of debt. In March, it sold 18.8% of its capital in the Brazilian brand Assaí for 723 million euros (775 million dollars), losing control of it.
Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky is interested in increasing his stake in Casino and taking control, though the group is also considering a rapprochement with agribusiness giant InVivo’s Teract.
Casino, which has more than 50,000 workers in France and 200,000 worldwide, has not officially evoked a possible transfer of its assets in Latin America, although this could allow it to return money to its creditors.
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