The Casino group, very indebted, plans to sell a hundred stores to Intermarché

Casino, in financial difficulties, announced on Friday May 26 that it was going to sell a certain number of stores to Intermarché, the third player in food distribution in France. The announcement comes in parallel with the formalization of its entry into a conciliation procedure for a period of four months in order to renegotiate its debt. Casino and its subsidiaries, including Monoprix and Franprix, were indebted to the tune of 6.4 billion euros at the end of 2022 – including 4.5 on its activity in France.

Casino also plans to sell more than a hundred hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores weighing 1.15 billion euros in turnover. During a press briefing, the group’s financial director, David Lubek, mentioned “supermarkets and hypermarkets located in areas considered non-priority” for Casino, whose core business is located in Ile-de-France, Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

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. This announcement was expected since Casino requested the suspension of the listing of its shares on Tuesday. “pending the publication of a press release and until further notice”. When trading resumed on Friday, theCasino shares fell 9% on the Paris Stock Exchange.