PARIS, April 24 Reuters Debtladen supermarket chain Casino and smaller food retailer Teract said on Monday that Groupement Les Mousquetaires, owner of supermarket chain Intermarche, had joined their exclusive tieup talks.

Under the planned deal, Groupement Les Mousquetaires and Casino are considering extending their purchasing alliances by two years until 2028. They are also considering extending their agreements to the new entity to be formed between Casino Group and Teract, which would be controlled by Casino.

The new entity could also transfer to Groupement Les Mousquetaires over several years and at market value, a number of points of sale from Casino France representing a minimum of 1.1 billion euros of turnover, the statement said.

Led by JeanCharles Naouri, Casino, which has around 3 billion euros of debt maturing between 2024 and 2025, said in March it was in exclusive talks to combine its French retail business with Teract, a company backed by billionaire Xavier Niel, seeking to reassure investors over its ability to generate cash and reduce high debt.

Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Sudip KarGupta

Source Reuters