<p class="mol-para-with-font">By Chiara Elisei</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">LONDON, June 5(Reuters) - A European derivatives committee said on Monday that a bankruptcy credit event has not occurred in relation to France's debt-laden Casino, dashing investor hopes for a payout on credit insurance linked to the retailer.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">The EMEA Credit Derivatives Determination Committee (CDDC) met on Friday to discuss the question raised by an investor, it said on its website.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">The heavily-indebted French retailer said last month it had entered court-backed talks with creditors after receiving their consent to open a court process known as conciliation without triggering a default under the terms of Casino issued bonds.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">The CDDC said on Monday that in reaching its decision, it had considered previous cases including Casino's holding company, Rallye.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">The committee said it had also considered features of French conciliation, noting that the process was designed to result in a full consensual agreement with creditors.
online casino But if a partial agreement is reached, this does not bind creditors who do not consent, meaning that other ways to get them on board would be sought, it noted.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Additionally, under French law, the opening of a conciliation procedure would override events of default in the debt instruments, the statement added.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">However, the CDDC concluded that this alone was not sufficient to trigger a bankruptcy credit event.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">A separate question was posed to the committee on Friday on whether a "failure to pay" credit event had occurred for Casino.
The committee has not decided yet whether to accept the question.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">A number of circumstances can constitute a credit event, which can trigger a payout on credit default swaps which insure against losses from exposure to corporate or sovereign debt.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">There were $428 million of net notional Casino CDS outstanding as of May 19, according to data from securities clearing and settlement firm DTCC.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Casino has been plagued for years by hefty debt following a string of acquisitions and by declining revenue and loss of market share in an increasingly competitive domestic market.
<b>(Reporting by Chiara Elisei, editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)</p></div></b>
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