Eroski is looking to sell its supermarkets in central and southern Spain, retaining only those in the north, especially in the Basque Country and Catalonia.
The company has started a series of meetings with its creditors to reduce debts by 50%; a task managed by Morgan Stanley and Deloitte. Eroski owes 2,400 million Euro to 15 financial institutions as part of a syndicated loan and has a total debt of 3,000 million Euro.
If the sale goes through, Eroski would lose a good part of the actives acquired with the purchase of Caprabo.
The burden of Caprabo
The company has already been in contact with potential buyers, and sources close to the negotiation assure that there is interest. But the prices which the parties interested are willing to pay are still far from the figures registered in their accounting records.
The purchase of Caprabo, a transaction carried out in the midst of the Spanish real estate bubble, became Eroski's burden. Back then, the cost for the company amounted to 1,300 million Euro.
