Innovations and startups: Strengthening its financial structure: Casino Group raises 625 million euros
The Casino Group, headed by Jean-Charles Nouri, announced in mid-December that it had successfully raised €625 million to strengthen its financial structure. The fund will contribute a maximum of EUR 1.35 billion to the financing of the existing bond buyback offer.
Casino Group announced on Wednesday, December 9, 2020, that it has successfully completed two financing operations as part of continuing to strengthen its financial structure. The first concerns the issue of the 400 million euro unsecured bond, which has a coupon of 6.625% and matures in January 2026.
As for the second issue, it deals with a single tap of a 225 million Euro Term Loan (Term Loan B), maturing in January 2024 at an issue price of 99.75% of the nominal. The total amount of this financing is EUR 625 million, so much more than what the group had hoped for (Euro 500 million). This surplus is explained by oversubscription from diversified investors.
Financing of Existing Bond Buyback Offers
For Jean-Charles Nouri’s group, the two new operations will be added to the proceeds of the leader price disposal and an escrow account (735 million euros) to finance existing bond buyback offers targeting 2021, 2022 bonds. , 2023, 2024 and 2025, for a maximum amount of 1.35 billion euros.
The distributor wishes to inform the market about the outcome of the takeover offer on December 21. It specifies that funds raised and possibly unutilized at the end of the takeover offer will go into a dedicated escrow account for repayment of debt for subsequent operations.
An operation that Aldi . Happens after finalizing the deal with
On 30 November, Jean-Charles Nouri’s group finalized the sale of 545 Leader Price stores, 2 casino supermarkets and 3 warehouses to discounter Aldi for an enterprise value of €717 million. These settlements bring the amount of the non-strategic asset settlement finalized since July 2018 to €2.8 billion.
They are part of a massive €4.5 billion settlement plan programmed by the French distributor and its president, Jean-Charles Nouri, by March 2021.
In parallel with these asset settlements, Casino Group, through its subsidiary CDiscount, continues to accelerate its strategic priorities to adapt to changing needs, whether in the convenience, premium or e-commerce growth areas. In addition to these activities, Jean-Charles Nouri’s group is also accelerating new activities, which are energy and data. In these two areas, distributors can particularly rely on GreenYellow, its subsidiary specializing in renewable energy, and at Relevant, a specialist in digital marketing solutions for brands and retailers.
