French retailer Casino Group agreed to sell Vietnam’s Big C grocery chain to Central Group at an enterprise value of €1 billion (40 billion baht), extending an Asian divestment programme aimed to reduce its debt.
The proceeds to be received are €920 million, the France-based company said in a statement Friday. Casino said the disposal will bring the total of its divestments to €4.2 billion.
The deal follows Casino’s agreement earlier this year to sell control of Thai supermarket chain Big C Supercenter Plc to billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi’s TCC Group for €3.1 billion. Casino is selling assets in Asia and Latin America to cut borrowings amid an attack from shortseller Carson Block. Among Block’s criticisms is that the retailer has a “dangerously” high debt burden, an assertion the company denies. Standard and Poor’s cut Casino’s credit rating to junk in March.
Rising retail sales and booming foreign investment are helping the Vietnamese economy expand. Achieving the government’s growth forecast of about 6.7% this year would make the Southeast Asian nation one of the fastest-growing markets in the world. Consumer-product companies including Dutch brewer Heineken and Dove soap maker Unilever have experienced strong growth in the country over the past year.