Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA surged after the French supermarket operator said that it plans to sell assets in Vietnam, Thailand and Colombia to cut debt by more than €2 billion ($2.2 billion) next year.
A sale of the Vietnamese business could raise €750 million, while setting up real-estate investment trusts in Thailand and Colombia could net €550 million and €200 million, respectively, according to Bruno Monteyne, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. The stock rose as much as 8.6 per cent in Paris.
Casino is seeking to raise money from operations outside of France and shift debt away from its domestic business. A sale of Latin American supermarket assets announced in July raised about €1.7 billion.
The latest move “could be a turning point for the equity, but emerging-markets profits remain pressured and deals need to be done,” John Kershaw, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, said in a note.
The stock traded 7.8 per cent higher, at €49.59, as of 9.18 a.m. in Paris. A close at that level would be the biggest gain in more than three years. Including the sale of other, smaller assets, Casino’s plan could add €12 to the share price, Bernstein’s Monteyne estimates.
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