Regulatory News:
CASINO (Paris:CO):
Casino is announcing that it has sold 9.8% of its stake in Mercialys through the implementation of an equity swap with Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank. This transaction, which follows the disposal to bring Casino's stake in Mercialys down to below 50% on April 25, enables an optimal reclassification of these stocks.
Overall and as of today, this sale has generated cash of €138 million for Casino Group.
As part of the implementation of its new retail real estate strategy of "Foncière commerçante" announced on February 9, Mercialys proceeded to a first exceptional distribution, of which €532 million was received by Casino on April 20.
In total, Casino has therefore already received €670 million of its announced gross cash inflow target of €800 to €900 million and is continuing to strengthen its financial flexibility.
The Group is reaffirming its dual value-creative business model and will remain a key partner of Mercialys, in which it now holds a 40.2% stake.
About Casino
The Casino Group is one of the leading food retailers in the world. In addition to its 9,500 outlets in France, the group has another 2,200 stores, mainly in Latin America (Brazil and Colombia) and South East Asia (Thailand and Vietnam), which account for 45% of its sales. In 2011, Casino had consolidated sales of €34.4 billion. It employs 230,000 people around the world.
About Mercialys
Mercialys, one of France's leading real estate companies, is solely active in commercial property. Rental revenue in 2011 came to Euro 161 million and net income, Group share, to Euro 147 million. It owns 120 properties with an estimated value of Euro 2.6 billion (including transfer taxes) at December 31, 2011. Mercialys has benefited from "SIIC" tax status (REIT) since November 1, 2005.
Contacts:
ANALYST AND INVESTOR CONTACTS
Régine GAGGIOLI
Tel.:+33
(0)1 53 65 64 17
rgaggioli@groupe-casino.fr
or
+33
(0)1 53 65 64 18
IR_Casino@groupe-casino.fr
