Carrefour was one of the possible buyers of the Casino brand, but it is ultimately two other players in food distribution who will join the group. The French number two has announced that he has reached an agreement with Cora and Match. Sixty hypermarkets for the first, 115 supermarkets for the second, with more than 24,000 employees in total.
“With the acquisition of the Cora and Match brands, Carrefour announces its first major acquisition in France for more than twenty years and consolidates its leadership in food distribution in its domestic market,” said Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard, quoted in a statement. communicated.
The transaction “values the assets acquired on the basis of an enterprise value of 1.05 billion euros”, specifies Carrefour, according to which the two brands made just over 5.2 billion euros in turnover. of business (excluding tax) in France in 2022, having achieved 42 billion euros in sales in the country. This last data is communicated taxes included.
By adding the market shares of the Carrefour group (19.9% at the last score at the end of June) and Louis Delhaize (2.4%), according to data from Kantar Worldpanel published by the specialized media LSA, the distributor would be very close to the leader in the sector, the group of independent E.Leclerc, which weighs 23.5% of the market.
This data is essential in the balance of power with agro-industrial suppliers. The greater the market share, the less the manufacturer can do without supplying this player and the more he is inclined to grant him better terms of sale.
This also allows Carrefour to regain (theoretically) the lead over another group of independents, Intermarché, which has agreed with Casino to buy 119 stores from it within three years – with an additional optional slice of 60 stores. An operation that worries the 4,000 employees concerned, but whose group expects a significant gain in market share.
“All the players in the food distribution are understanding that we must react to grow and not be left behind by E.Leclerc, which is on an impressive trend, and by Intermarché”, estimated Monday with AFP Clément Genelot, distribution specialist at Bryan, Garnier
The operation “includes the acquisition of the walls of 55 hypermarkets and 77 supermarkets”, says Carrefour, for whom this acquisition should make it possible to “reaffirm its leadership on the French market, in a context where the opportunities for external growth on assets of quality are rare”.
“The Cora and Match store network has excellent locations and offers strong geographical complementarity with that of Carrefour,” says the Massy-based retailer, who specifies that the transaction is subject to the approval of the Authority of the French competition.
“Given the strong geographical complementarity of the two groups, Carrefour considers the competition issues to be limited,” said the distributor, which plans to “finalize” the transaction in the summer of 2024.
This announcement comes as Casino, which employs 200,000 people worldwide, including a quarter in France, is struggling with its debt and entered into conciliation at the end of May to try to renegotiate it.
Takeover offers have been made, by the billionaire duo Kretinsky-Ladreit de Lacharrière and by the trio Niel-Pigasse-Zouari. Some media had indicated that Carrefour might be interested, but the group never confirmed this and did not submit an offer.