Casino's holding company Rallye opens process to get grace period over debts (updated)

Teract SA

22/05/2023 20:53

* 
      Rallye: initial talks over debts unsuccessful
    

        * 
      Conciliation proceedings opened up
    

  
 (Adds details, background from paragraph 3 onwards)
    By Sudip Kar-Gupta
       PARIS, May 22 (Reuters) - Rallye  GENC.PA , the holding
company behind indebted French supermarket company Casino
 CASP.PA , on Monday said it had started proceedings with a
Paris court to get a period of grace over its debt situation.
    "As of today, discussions with the holders of Rallye's debts
secured by Casino's securities placed in trust have not been
successful yet. Under these circumstances, the companies have
decided to request the opening of a conciliation proceeding to
benefit from a more protective legal framework in order to
pursue discussions with their creditors," Rallye said.
    Rallye said the Paris Commercial Court had opened
conciliation proceedings over its debt situation for an initial
period of four months, with the possibility to extend this for a
further month.
        Casino - which has around 3 billion euros ($3.30
billion) of debts maturing in 2024 and 2025 - has been
considering rival tie-up proposals as it looks to improve its
financial position.
  
        Czech billionaire Daniel 
    Kretinsky, Casino's second-biggest shareholder, has offered
to take control of Casino
     through a 1.1 billion-euro capital increase, challenging a
proposed tie-up between Casino and smaller retailer Teract
 TRACT.PA .
  
        Earlier this month, 
    Standard & Poor's cut its rating on Casino
    , adding further pressure to the company, whose shares are
down by around 30% so far in 2023, having fallen 58% in 2022.
  
        ($1 = 0.9084 euros)
  

 (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Chris Reese and
Marguerita Choy)
 ((sudip.kargupta@thomsonreuters.com;))