Distributor Casino, in the grip of serious financial difficulties, announced on Thursday 8 February that it had reached an agreement with Carrefour to sell twenty-five supermarkets and hypermarkets.
“After consultation with the relevant staff representative bodies, the transfer will be completed on April 30, 2024”According to a press release from the casino group, which did not list the stores concerned.
The twenty-five brands are part of a wave of 288 hypermarkets and supermarkets whose sale Casino announced in late January to Auchan and Intermarche. On the same day, Carrefour announced that it had entered “Special Negotiations” With Intermarche to buy back part of the store network sold by the casino to avoid competition issues.
Fear for 50,000 employees
While the liquidation of the casino group has caused fear among its approximately 50,000 employees, “Carrefour has made the same social commitments as the Les Musketaires group (Owner of Intermarché) To employees assigned to relocated stores and service stations”, reveals a press release published by the Saint-Etienne-based distributor on Thursday. The Paris Commercial Court is due to examine the casino group’s draft accelerated safeguard plan on Monday.
Amidst the crunch, the distributor signed an agreement in July to restructure its debt and change shareholders by March-April 2024. They are Czech billionaire Daniel Kretynsky, Frenchman Marc Ledret de Lechrier and British fund assessor. Orders must be taken on this date.
Casino clarified on Thursday that it is conditional on the sale of twenty-five stores to Carrefour “All General Authorizations”And especially from them “competent competition authorities”.
In late December, the Competition Authority forced Intermarche to sell three of the 61 stores it had acquired from Casino to its rivals as part of the first wave of store sales.
