Casino climbs back up the stock market on Monday as press reports suggest that competitors Auchan and Carrefour are interested in the heavily indebted retail group, which is already the subject of two takeover bids.

At 13:20 GMT, Casino shares climbed 12.8% to 6.80 euros, the biggest gainer on the SBF 120, up 0.65% at the same time. The share had already gained 8.8% on Friday.

At the end of last week, Le Figaro and Les Echos reported that the Auchan group was interested in a merger with Casino. For its part, La Lettre A reported that Carrefour was also looking into the matter.

Carrefour and Casino declined to comment. Auchan was not immediately available for comment.

On Thursday, Casino announced the end of its discussions with the French group Teract with a view to combining its retail activities in France. At the same time, businessmen Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse and Moez-Alexandre Zouari announced their intention to work on "an industrial and sustainable solution" for the Saint-Etienne-based group.

Casino is also coveted by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, who has offered to take control of the group via a €1.1 billion capital increase.

(Written by Blandine Hénault, with contributions from Dominique Vidalon, edited by Bertrand Boucey)