PARIS, June 14 (Reuters) - French businessmen Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse and Moez-Alexandre Zouari have made a preliminary expression of interest in bidding up to 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) for Casino, the debt-laden French supermarket company said on Wednesday.

The trio had signalled last week they were readying an offer for Casino, after tie-up talks between the company and smaller retail rival Teract collapsed.

Casino said in a statement the three would invest between 200 and 300 million euros themselves, with the rest provided by unspecified partners including Casino creditors wishing to invest in the company's equity.

"At this stage, this is not a firm offer but a preliminary expression of interest which may not be successful. The group will study this expression of interest and keep the market informed in the event of any new material elements," Casino said.

The proposal comes after Czech entrepreneur Daniel Kretínsky, Casino's second-largest shareholder, offered in April to take control of the group through a 1.1 billion euro capital increase.

Casino had consolidated net debt of 6.4 billion euros at the end of last year. It faces 3 billion euros of debt repayments in the next two years and the holding company through which veteran entrepreneur Jean-Charles Naouri controls the company is also heavily indebted.

Last month Casino, which owns the Franprix and Monoprix chains, officially started court-backed negotiations with its creditors.

Casino shares were up 18% in early trade, while those of holding company Rallye were up 33%.

($1 = 0.9272 euros) (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta Writing by Silvia Aloisi Editing by Mark Potter)