Officially, Casino has not (yet) put its more than six thousand convenience stores up for sale, but Carrefour is said to have made an offer anyway, and Auchan and Intermarché have also confirmed their interest.
6392 convenience stores
The group supplies 6392 convenience stores under enseignes such as Petit Casino, Spar and Vival. Although they is not officially for sale, Carrefour is said to have made an offer for it, according to French business newspaper Les Echos. This bid raises a lot of questions, because Carrefour would gain a very dominant market share with such a takeover in several regions – especially in and around Paris. Moreover, it appears that Auchan and Intermarché have stipulated in their joint bid that they also want to take over the convenience stores if they were to be sold, LSA reports.
Tomorrow, 19 December, future CEO Philippe Palazzi will present the acquisition candidates and their proposals to the unions. On Wednesday, 20 December, there will be a meeting with creditors as part of the ongoing insolvency proceedings. The rescue and/or at least partial dismantling of Casino will take a lot more work.
The sale of the convenience stores is not official yet, but ailing French retailer Casino certainly wants to sell its 260 hypermarkets and supermarkets to ease its debt burden: competitors Auchan and Intermarché have made a joint bid and Lidl is also said to be interested (possibly combined with E.Leclerc, but this has not been confirmed). Casino wants to focus on its Franprix and Monoprix chains instead.
