Groupe Casino has announced the launch of a transaction aimed at strengthening its liquidity up to the end of 2023, by reducing bond debt and extending its average maturity.
The transaction includes several factors, including tapping the 2024 Secured Term Loan B initially issued in November 2019 for a targeted amount of €200 million and the potential launch of a senior unsecured debt instrument maturing in January 2026 for a targeted amount of €300 million.
It also includes a tender offer on Casino’s unsecured notes maturing in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 for a maximum amount of €1.2 billion.
This will be partly financed by the disposal of Leader Price (€648 million) as well as new financings (target aggregate principal amount of €500 million) and cash still available on a segregated account dedicated to debt repayment (€87 million).
'The cash raised and potentially not used during the tender offer will be credited to the segregated account dedicated to repayment of debt for future transactions,' Casino said in a statement.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
