The Casino group in full financial collapse, the context of high inflation… The supermarket sector has been constantly shaken up in recent months. At the last score at the end of June, the group of independent E.Leclerc increased its lead (23.5% of Kantar Worldpanel’s market share) over the giant Carrefour (19.9%). But the latter has obviously decided not to remain inactive. The group led by Alexandre Bompard announced on Wednesday July 12 that it had reached an agreement with the Belgian Louis Delhaize “for the acquisition of the Cora and Match brands in France”, a transaction “whose finalization is expected in the summer of 2024 “.
The transaction “values the assets acquired on the basis of an enterprise value of 1.05 billion euros”, specifies Carrefour. Cora and Match operate “respectively 60 hypermarkets and 115 supermarkets” and employ 24,000 people in France. The Cora and Match group achieved a turnover excluding tax of 5.2 billion euros in 2022 in France, while Carrefour for its part achieved sales of 42 billion euros in the country in 2022, a figure published taxes included.
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”.
Approval from the competition authority still awaited
“With the takeover 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”, responded CEO Alexandre Bompard, quoted in the press release. “The Cora and Match store network has excellent locations and offers strong geographical complementarity with that of Carrefour”, says the distributor based in Massy, 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.
Behind E. Leclerc and Casino, Intermarché takes 16.1% of the market share of Kantar Worldpanel and Système U 11.8%. Auchan and Casino are under 10% each, with 8.5% and 5.8% respectively, and between the two is the discounter Lidl (8%).