Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA said it will start debt talks with creditors after a Paris court decided to open a so-called conciliation procedure.
That will “enable the Casino group to engage in discussions with its financial creditors within a legally secure framework,” the company said in a statement Friday.
The start of the procedure allows Casino shares and other listed securities issued by the company to resume trading on Friday after being suspended May 22.
The conciliation procedure only applies to the financial debt of the group and some of its subsidiaries and will have no impact on operational partners including suppliers or company employees, it added.
Separately, Casino also announced plans to sell some stores including hypermarkets and some convenience stores to Groupement Les Mousquetaires in France. Those stores generated around €1 billion ($1.1 billion) in sales, it said.
Casino didn’t disclose how many stores would be sold and for how much. Les Mousquetaires will also take a minority €100 million equity investment in the future financing round of Casino, the grocer said. This will not clash with current negotiation plans Casino has with Teract SA, a food start-up backed by billionaire Xavier Niel, according to the company.
