French supermarket group Casino explores fundraising for Cdiscount and GreenYellow units

PARIS (Reuters) - French supermarket retailer Casino said it was exploring fundraising plans for its Cdiscount and GreenYellow subsidiaries.

The company said it had launched preparatory works on potential capital hikes for the units to step up their growth plans.

"Those operations, which could be done through market operations, could also include a secondary placement of shares held by the group," Casino said in a statement late on Monday, adding it noted a favourable environment on the equity market.

Casino said it would keep control of Cdiscount and GreenYellow. Private equity firm Tikehau and French state bank Bpifrance own 24% stakes in GreenYellow.

Last month, Rallye - the indebted parent company of Casino - said it had entered into exclusive talks to sell sports equipment unit Go Sport to French property group Financiere Immobiliere Bordelaise (FIB).

(Reporting by Matthieu Protard; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)