BRASILIA, April 12 (Reuters) - Brazilian food retailer GPA said on Monday France's Casino Group was exploring fundraising for its Cdiscount unit, in which GPA holds an indirect stake.

Shares of GPA, which owns about 34% of Casino Group's Cnova unit that controls Cdiscount, rose 9.8%.

The potential fundraising could be done through "market operations" and could also include a secondary offering of shares held by Casino Group, according to a statement from Casino that was disclosed in a securities filing by GPA.

Casino Group plans to maintain control of Cdiscount following any transaction, according to the statement. (Reporting by Jake Spring; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)