Casino announces the sale of a significant number of stores to Intermarché – Economy

The distributor in financial difficulties Casino, in parallel with the formalization of its entry into a conciliation procedure, announced this Friday that it was going to sell a certain number – which it did not wish to specify – of stores to the Intermarché group , the third largest food retailer in France.

Casino plans to sell hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores weighing a total of 1.15 billion euros in turnover including tax, “broken down into two perimeters”: a first part whose “first sales will take place by the end of this year” and a second subject to a commitment by Casino to sell them “at the request” of Intermarché, “at the latest within three years”.

Launch of a four-month conciliation procedure

The Saint-Etienne casino distributor has also formalized its entry into a conciliation procedure following a decision by the president of the Paris commercial court dated May 25, according to a press release announcing the resumption of the stock market listing. .

This amicable procedure, decided for a period of four months “possibly extendable by one month” should allow the company, indebted to the tune of 6.4 billion euros at the end of 2022, including 4.5 on its activity in France, to reach an agreement with its creditors with a view to a potential restructuring of its debt.

The President of the Paris Commercial Court has decided to open on May 25, 2023 a conciliation procedure for the benefit of Casino and its subsidiaries, including Monoprix and Franprix, “for an initial period of four months, possibly extendable by one month. “, indicates the group in the press release.

Casino specifies that this procedure “concerns only the financial debt of the company” and certain subsidiaries and “will have no impact on the group’s relations with its operational partners (in particular its suppliers) and employees”.

A group that arouses envy

This announcement was expected since Casino on Tuesday requested the suspension of the listing of its shares “pending the publication of a press release and until further notice”, while the rating agencies downgraded the rating of its debt in recent weeks in anticipation of a restructuring.

Casino, which employs more than 50,000 people in France and 200,000 worldwide under many brands, has been struggling for years to get out of debt, so far without success.

The group, powerful in Ile-de-France, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Rhône-Alpes, nevertheless arouses envy, on the part of billionaire Daniel Kretinsky as well as the distribution group Teract, whose shareholder majority shareholder is the agrifood giant InVivo. At the end of April, the third supermarket chain in France, Intermarché, joined the discussions supposed to be completed by the end of May.