French supermarket retailer Casino has agreed to sell a portfolio of real estate assets for €180 million euros, as it continues an asset-sale programme to cut debts which have concerned some investors.
Casino signed an agreement with the firm AG2R la Mondiale on Wednesday for the disposal of 14 Monoprix real estate assets, for a net amount of €180 million and for an annual rent of €8.6 million.
The proceeds from the disposal will be received no later than Jan. 2019, Casino said in a statement on Thursday.
Solar Panels
Elsewhere, French utility Engie and Casino launched a joint venture that will invest some €100 million a year to build solar panels on the rooftops of supermarkets, hotels and hospitals in France.
Engie will work with Casino to install solar units with generating capacities of up to 1 megawatt (MW) on retail, industrial and municipal buildings, while continuing to build rooftop solar independently for private homes and large ground-mounted utility-scale solar farms.
The joint venture between Engie and Casino's solar unit GreenYellow is called Reservoir Sun and hopes to install about 100 megawatts (MW) of rooftop solar capacity per year in France, at a rhythm of about one new installation per day.
France currently has solar generating capacity of 7,660 MW.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
