(Update: context)
PARIS (Agefi-Dow Jones)–The distributor Casino announced Monday evening that Grupo Pao de Açucar (GPA), its Brazilian subsidiary, plans to distribute to its shareholders approximately 83% of Grupo Exito, its Colombian subsidiary, and to retain a stake of around 13% which could be sold later.
“Casino’s Board of Directors met today and approved the principle of the proposed separation of GPA and Grupo Exito in order to externalize the full value of Grupo Exito,” the French distributor said in a statement.
The market capitalization of Exito, a company listed in Colombia, is higher than that of GPA, listed in Brazil, while GPA holds nearly 97% of Exito’s capital. GPA acquired Exito in November 2019 through a takeover bid.
GPA indicated last month that it had initiated preliminary studies with a view to separating its activities from those of Exito. The proposed transaction is comparable to GPA’s spin-off of its Brazilian brand Assai, a specialist in wholesale self-service (“cash and carry”), finalized in March 2021.
The distribution of Grupo Exito shares to GPA shareholders would take the form of Brazilian (BDR) and American (ADR) certificates of deposit, consistent with GPA’s shareholder structure.
Subject to the finalization of the analyzes and the obtaining of the necessary authorizations, the delivery of the Grupo Exito shares to the shareholders of GPA would take place during the first half of next year.
Following the operation, the Casino group would hold stakes in Latin America in three separate listed assets: Assai and GPA in Brazil, both held at 41%, and Grupo Exito in Colombia, with a direct holding of 34%, and an indirect holding via GPA’s 13% minority stake.
-Dimitri Delmond, Agefi-Dow Jones; +33 (0)1 41 27 47 31; [email protected] ed: VLV
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September 06, 2022 02:02 ET (06:02 GMT)