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Casino Guichard-Perrachon Sells Vietnamese Unit for $1.1 Billion

Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA agreed to sell Vietnam’s Big C grocery chain to Central Group at an enterprise value of 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion), extending an Asian divestment program aimed to reduce the French retailer’s debt.

Casino will receive 920 million euros in proceeds, the St. Etienne, France-based company said in a statement Friday. The disposal will bring the total of its divestments to 4.2 billion euros, it said. The shares rose as much as 2.1 percent in early Paris trading.

The deal follows Casino’s agreement earlier this year to sell control of Thai supermarket chain Big C Supercenter Pcl to billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi’s TCC Holding Co. for 3.1 billion euros. Casino is selling assets to cut borrowings amid an attack from short seller Carson Block, who has said 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 percent this year would make the Southeast Asian nation one of the fastest-growing markets in the world. Consumer-product companies including Dutch brewer Heineken NV and Dove soap maker Unilever have experienced strong growth in the country over the past year.

(Source: Bloomberg)