French retailer Groupe Casino has announced a new refinancing plan to extend the maturity of its debt and reduce costs.
The refinancing plan includes a new Term Loan B to mature in August 2025 of a targeted size of €800 million.
It also includes the potential launch of a new €425 million senior unsecured debt instrument, scheduled to mature in April 2027.
The funds will be used to fully redeem the current €1.225 billion Term Loan B, which matures in 2024, the retailer added.
The refinancing is expected to almost halve the 2024 payments and extend the debt maturity profile while reducing its costs.
Groupe Casino expects to complete these transactions in the coming weeks.
In February of this year, the retailer reported an operating profit of €1.426 billion, up 25.2% at constant exchange rates, helped by cost savings and higher sales in top markets France and Brazil.
Debt Reduction Initiatives
Casino, which also controls Brazil's Grupo Pao de Acucar, has been selling assets to reduce debt.
It has lowered its gross debt by €1.3 billion to €4.8 billion at the end of 2020, exceeding its target of €5 billion.
The group has sold €2.8 billion in assets, including several hundred Leader Price stores to Aldi.
In December 2020, the company launched a new senior unsecured bond worth €300 million maturing January 2026 as part of its transaction to reinforce its financial structure.
The company also launched a tender offer on senior unsecured bonds maturing between 2021 and 2025 for a maximum of €1.2 billion.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
