PARIS (Reuters) - Retailers Carrefour and Casino made non-binding offers last week to buy DIA France, the loss-making French division that Spanish discount supermarket chain DIA has put up for sale, Le Figaro daily said on Tuesday.
The two retailers have until the end of next week to make firm offers to buy DIA France, which employs 7,500 people and has over 800 French stores, the paper said. Spanish bank Sabadell last month valued Dia French at around 500 million euros (416 million pounds) including debt.
Carefour declined to comment while Casino had no immediate comment.
A source close to the matter said Carrefour, which previously owned Dia but spun it off in 2011 when the company was listed on the Spanish stock exchange, was looking at DIA's assets.
A purchase would allow the French chains to add stores but could raise competition issues.
DIA, the world's third-largest hard-discount group after German retailers Aldi and Lidl, has done well in its home market but faced tough going in France, where hard discounters compete with hypermarkets who have been sharply cutting prices to lure shoppers in difficult economic times.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by David Holmes)