SAO PAULO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Brazil's food retailer GPA , backed by French group Casino, expects the sales of its gas station chain to take place next year, as part of an ongoing divestment plan to reduce financial leverage, the group's CEO said on Wednesday.
Its Sao Paulo-headquarter is also up for sale.
CEO Marcelo Pimentel told Reuters after an annual event with investors that neither sales would happen in 2023 but expected the "cash will materialize throughout 2024.."
GPA, which operates nearly 750 stores in Brazil, including 66 gas stations, said earlier this year that the sale of the assets, including the headquarters, was expected to raise about 500 million reais (about $101.9 million).
This would add to $156 million raised from the divestment of its 13.31% stake in Latin America retailer Almacenes Exito in October and another 10 million euro ($10.76 million) from the sale of a 34% stake in e-commerce firm Cnova last month.
GPA's divestment plan aims to reduce its net debt/adjusted Ebitda financial leverage, which ended the third quarter at 5.9 times including stores leasing.
CFO Rafael Russowsky said the potential 500 million reais price tag could help drag it down to 3.9 times, although he emphasized it's not an official guidance.
GPA's shares closed 3.9% higher on Wednesday, delivering one of the best performances of the day among stocks from Brazil's equities benchmark Ibovespa, which fell by 1%.
However, the firm's shares fell 16.2% year to date versus a 14.5% gain from the Ibovespa benchmark .
($1 = 4.9039 reais)
($1 = 0.9291 euros) (Reporting by Paula Arend Laier; Writing by Andre Romani; Editing by David Gregorio)
