It added: “The project remains subject to the conclusion of a binding agreement between the parties, which could be reached before the end of the first quarter of 2024 and of which the market will be kept informed.”Īuchan and Intermarché stated: “By joining forces to buy the Casino shops, Auchan and Les Mousquetaires are supporting a project with 100% French capital, a project which will also strengthen French food sovereignty and support for the farming industry and various regions.” Spiralling debt

The full deal “represents 313 shops”, said Casino, representing a turnover of €3.6 billion. The Intermarché-Auchan offer was higher than that tended by Lidl, and Carrefour, which had previously also been in the running for the purchases, it said. In a statement released on December 18, the Casino group said: “The Casino group, on the one hand, and Groupement Les Mousquetaires and Auchan Retail, on the other, announce that they have entered into exclusive negotiations today with a view to the Casino group selling almost all of its hypermarkets and supermarkets to Groupement Les Mousquetaires and Auchan Retail, on the basis of a fixed enterprise value of €1.35 billion (excluding property).”

The Intermarché group, in partnership with Auchan, is to buy more than 300 Casino-branded hypermarkets and supermarkets.

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