French retailer Casino Group to sell retail sites for €565m

French supermarket group Casino has agreed to sell some properties of its Monoprix chain for €565 million ($655 million) to reduce debts.

The buyer was an unnamed institutional investor.

The Monoprix deal, which involves the sale and leaseback of properties, follows the July sale of a 15 percent stake in Casino’s property arm Mercialys. Casino is halfway to its goal of selling €1.5 billion ($1.74 billion) in assets by early 2019.

Based in France, Monoprix offers a range of food products along with beauty, fashion and home products across its stores.

The retailer currently operates 316 stores in France and globally across Tunisia, Mauritius, Libya, Qatar, Luxembourg, Lebanon and Martinique Island.