His name was mentioned in the Casino file, it is another food retailer who will be crunched by Carrefour: the number two Frenchman announced on Wednesday an agreement to buy the Cora and Match brands, while maneuvers are increasing in the area.
Sixty hypermarkets and 115 supermarkets, respectively under the Cora and Match brands, and a total of 24,000 employees: this is a significant acquisition announced by Carrefour on Wednesday evening, while it is another big name in French food distribution, Casino, which has been in the news for months.
“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,” said Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard, quoted in a press release. . 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 achieved a little more than 5.2 billion euros in turnover. of business (excluding tax) in France in 2022, itself having achieved 42 billion euros in sales in the country. This last data is communicated taxes included.
Reinforced weight in France
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 of the sector in France, 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 tranche of 60 stores. An operation that worries the 4,000 employees concerned, but whose group expects a significant gain in market share.
“All food retail players are realizing that we have to react to grow and not be left behind by E.Leclerc, which is on an impressive trend, and by Intermarché,” Clément Genelot told AFP on Monday. , distribution specialist at Bryan, Garnier & Co.
The operation “includes the acquisition of the walls of 55 hypermarkets and 77 supermarkets”, says Carrefour again.
“Strong geographical complementarity”
“The Cora and Match store network has excellent locations and offers strong geographical complementarity with that of Carrefour”, according to the distributor based in Massy, who specifies that the transaction is subject to the approval of the competition authority. French. A 36% subsidiary of Carrefour, Carmila, will at the same time take over 52 shopping malls adjacent to Cora stores which were 93% owned by the Louis Delhaize group, according to the Carrefour press release. The distributor plans to “finalize” the takeover of Cora and Match in the summer of 2024.
Carrefour “would keep all the staff, but we remain cautious because we do not yet have the conditions for the takeover”, declared AFP Cyrille Lechevestrier, CFTC union representative (majority) within Cora. “Company agreements and salary scales are better at Carrefour but (the distributor) has franchised a lot lately”, fears Julien Aquilina, CGT union representative.
This announcement comes as Casino, which employs 200,000 people worldwide, including a quarter in France, is struggling with its debt and entered a conciliation at the end of May to try to renegotiate it.