Mexico City, Nov 12 - Mexican retailer Comercial Mexicana plans to sell assets to pay off part of its bulky debt as it anticipates an economic slowdown weighing on its sales next year, a senior executive said on Wednesday.
"We already have a way to pay and part of it will be through an asset sale," Jose Calvillo, in charge of restructuring the company's $2 billion debt pile, told Reuters in an interview.
"We are evaluating which assets will go on sale. It could be land reserves (to build new stores) or real estate companies (run by the company)," he added. The retailer's fixed assets are worth around $3 billion, he said.
Comercial Mexicana, known as Comerci, disclosed serious debt troubles last month after huge losses on foreign exchange derivative instruments as global markets sank.
The company has been named by the government as one of the main drivers in the Mexican peso's steep depreciation in October, the worst in over a decade and one that prompted the government to step in and spend a tenth of international reserves to prop it up.
Comerci has made two failed attempts in recent weeks to obtain protection from creditors, and Calvillo said it was preparing a third request which will be filed once a Mexican court resolves a disagreement over one of the refusals.
Despite its troubles, Comerci posted a 2.5 percent increase in same-store sales in October during the height of the markets crisis, but sees flat growth in November, Calvillo said.
He added that Comerci also sees same-store sales, or those recorded at stores open for at least 12 months, flat in 2009.