Casino announces a new preliminary agreement with some of its creditors.
The French retailer Casino announced on Monday, September 18th, that it has reached a preliminary agreement with a new group of creditors. However, these creditors were not involved in the initial agreement announced in July, which focused on restructuring the company’s massive debt of 6.4 billion euros by the end of 2022.
In its statement, the group also announced that it has requested the Paris Commercial Court to extend the conciliation period until October 25th, regarding the restructuring of its debt. This conciliation period had started on June 2nd.
Les créanciers concernés par ce nouvel accord de principe représentent la majorité des porteurs d’obligations de Quatrim, une entité qui détient les biens immobiliers de Casino.
L’accord prévoit que 100 % des recettes des cessions d’actifs détenus par Quatrim et ses filiales, ainsi qu’une partie des recettes des cessions de GreenYellow et d’autres actifs du groupe, soient allouées au remboursement de ces créanciers.
In total, including proceeds from sales and cumulative guarantees, a total of 946 million euros is allocated to repay these holders of secured debt, with the principal amount totaling 553 million euros.
Un apport de 1,2 milliard d’euros d’argent frais
La maturité de ces obligations, c’est-à-dire la date butoir pour les rembourser, est également étendue jusqu’au 15 janvier 2027, contre 2024 précédemment, afin de « mettre en œuvre un plan de cession d’actifs et de réduction de la dette de Quatrim », précise le groupe.
Casino ajoute que « cet accord de principe reste soumis à la réalisation des autres opérations de restructuration annoncées par le groupe le 27 juillet 2023 ».
At the end of July, the key creditors of the group had committed “to support and carry out any reasonably necessary steps or actions” for the completion of Casino’s restructuring, and thus to accept the takeover offer from Czech Daniel Kretinsky and his allies, billionaire Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière and British fund Attestor.
This offer includes the injection of 1.2 billion euros in fresh funds and the reduction of nearly 5 billion euros in the group’s debt. It is also planned to sell Casino’s activities in Latin America – particularly in Brazil – where three-quarters of the group’s employees work.
