Casino's shareholders and creditors have given the green light to the heavily indebted retail group's safeguard plan, the group announced in a press release on Friday.

"Of the 17 classes of affected parties of Casino's subsidiaries concerned, 16 classes have approved the draft accelerated safeguard plans by the required majority," the statement said.

In October, Casino signed a debt restructuring agreement with its main creditors, including billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, in order to avoid bankruptcy.

Last December, the accelerated safeguard procedure was extended by two months, until February 25, by the Paris Commercial Court. (Dominique Vidalon, Piotr Lipinsky, ean-Stéphane Brosse for the French version)