Casino - tendering for bonds - easy trade of short dated paper evaporating

All,

Please find our unchanged analysis here.

Casino announced this morning their intention to tender for upto €150m of bonds but what is interesting they are tendering for any of the 2021, 2022, 2023 and March 2024 bonds. We had always suspected that the 2022 and 2023 bonds would be taken out before focusing on the 2024, but the Company are seeking to capture some of the discount in the March 2024 bonds. We maintain that the differential between the “secured Quatrim” bonds of Jan 2024 bonds versus the unsecured March 2024 is too large given the dynamics of the maturity schedule.
The tender is only for €150m and the Company’s priority is the 2021 bonds. I question the timing as the Company are likely to have the proceeds of the Leader Price sale later this month, and could do a larger tender with those proceeds.
This partial tender for €150m of bonds will further support the short end of the Casino bonds, and we maintain our 2% of NAV long position in the 2023 bonds.

Happy to discuss.

Tomas
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E: tmannion@sarria.co.uk
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