Casino sells Monoprix real estate

Looking to work away its towering debts, French retailer Casino has decided to sell 55 retail premises of supermarket chain Monoprix for 565 million euro.

Non-strategic activities

According to a press release, Casino will sell the retail premises to a ‘large institutional investor’ whose identity is not yet made public. The agreement was signed last Friday and the completion of the transaction is due by 27 December. Earlier this year, the group already sold 15 % of the capital of its real estate subsidiary Mercialys, allowing Casino to dispose of 778 million euro of assets. By 2019, the retailer intends to have sold 1.5 billion euro of real estate and other non-strategic activities, meaning they are halfway at this point. Brazilian electronics and interior decoration chain Via Varejo is said to be for sale as well.

Casino has been struggling with its debts for a while, putting share prices under pressure. The retailer was recently granted a new 500 million euro credit line. The company made an alliance with Auchan and Metro last summer in order to facilitate its purchases. Last week, the chain was reported to have been approached by its competitor Carrefour, but that news was categorically denied by the latter.