Troubled distributor Casino said on Monday it plans to sell its South American brands, Brazil’s Grupo Pao de Acucar (GPA) and Colombia’s Éxito, and hopes to cut its debt in half as part of conciliation proceedings, in order to achieve “a sustainable capital structure.
Casino expects to convert “at least all the unsecured debt” into capital, that is, more than 3,000 million euros. This means that the creditors who lent you that money, instead of getting it back, would repay themselves by becoming shareholders in the group.
The distributor also plans to raise 900 million euros “in the form of equity”. This, to “provide the company with the necessary funds to implement its strategy” 2023-2025.
Buyers on the prowl
The Saint-Etienne distributor publicly detailed this Monday the measures it intends to implement to “strengthen its liquidity” and ensure “a sustainable capital structure”, after having presented them to its creditors on June 15.
The potential candidates for the acquisition of the group, namely the billionaires already shareholders Daniel Kretinsky and Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière on the one hand, the trio Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse, Moez-Alexandre Zouari on the other, had also been aware of this. This elements
The group, which employs more than 200,000 people worldwide, including a large quarter in France, had announced the previous week several measures to “preserve its liquidity” during the conciliation procedure, which can last until October 25. .
His social and tax charges have been deferred from May to September, and his creditors have been asked not to demand payment of the amounts owed, interest or refunds, while the conciliation is carried out.
No immediate liquidity problem
Casino also sold its stake in Brazilian cash&carry (wholesale sales for professionals and individuals) brand Assai.
In the end, the group “will not have liquidity problems at the end of the reconciliation period,” estimated Accuracy, an independent financial firm. There will not be at the end of 2023, estimates the firm, as long as the freezing of financial charges and debt maturities continues “after the end of the conciliation period.”
“These forecasts depend mainly on the activity of the brands in the coming months (particularly the recovery of hypermarkets and supermarkets) and the maintenance of supplier deadlines (which is the case to date)”, specifies Casino in a press release this Monday morning.
Source: BFM TV
