A Credit Suisse credit line to French grocer Casino Guichard-Perrachon is being sold in an auction on Friday, according to people familiar with the matter.
(Bloomberg) — A Credit Suisse credit line to French grocer Casino Guichard-Perrachon is being sold in an auction on Friday, according to people familiar with the matter.
The bank’s part of the revolving credit facility on sale is about €100 million ($106 million), the people said, asking not to be named discussing private information. The credit line was quoted around 52 to 54 cents on the euro in recent weeks.
The Swiss lender, which was acquired by UBS Group AG, is one of the few non-French banks that’s still part of Casino’s revolving credit facility. Others had sold their positions earlier this year when it became clear that the French grocer was heading to a restructuring. Spokespeople for UBS and Casino declined to comment.
Read More: Credit Suisse Flags $2.2 Billion Loss as Wind-Down Proceeds
Casino has been in court-supervised talks with creditors since late May to restructure the balance sheet and the business. Under an agreement reached with a group of investors led by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, Casino’s €3.5 billion of unsecured debt and more than €1.3 billion of the secured debt will be converted into equity.
The company’s existing revolving credit facility is €2.051 billion. Under Kretinsky’s plan, the amount reinstated will be €770 million with a four-year maturity from closing.
The rest will be converted into equity, with secured creditors participating in the additional capital increase set to control at least 28.4% of the shares. The grocer is already in the one-month extension of the process and has until Oct. 25 to get all the lock-up agreements signed.
Once that is done, it will enter an accelerated safeguard process in which it could approve the plan with the support of secured creditors and cram down dissenting creditors.
Read more: Casino Credit Swaps Holders Set for a Big Win After Auction
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