The distributor Carrefour announces the acquisition for “summer 2024” of the Cora and Match brands

Carrefour has reached an agreement with the Belgian group Louis Delhaize “for the acquisition of the Cora and Match brands in France”, a transaction “expected to close in the summer of 2024”, the retail giant announced on Wednesday night. .

The operation “values ​​the assets acquired on the basis of a company value of 1,050 million euros,” specifies Carrefour. Cora and Match operate “respectively 60 hypermarkets and 115 supermarkets” and employ 24,000 people in France. The operation “includes the acquisition of the walls of 55 hypermarkets and 77 supermarkets”, Carrefour affirms again.

Carrefour, number 2 in distribution

The Cora and Match group achieved a turnover without taxes of 5,200 million euros in 2022 in France, while Carrefour, for its part, achieved sales of 42,000 million euros in the country in 2022, a figure published with taxes included.

Carrefour is the second largest food retailer in France, behind the independent group E.Leclerc.

The operation “includes the acquisition of the walls of 55 hypermarkets and 77 supermarkets”, says Carrefour, for whom this acquisition should allow “it to reaffirm its leadership in the French market, in a context in which the opportunities for external growth on quality assets They are rare”.

First major acquisition in more than 20 years

“With the acquisition of the Cora and Match brands, Carrefour announces its first major acquisition in France in more than twenty years and consolidates its leadership in food distribution in its national market,” reacted Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard, quoted in the press release. . .

“The Cora and Match store network has excellent locations and offers a strong geographical complementarity with that of Carrefour,” says the Massy-based distributor, who specifies that the transaction is subject to approval by the French competition authority. .

“Given the strong geographical complementarity of the two groups, Carrefour considers that competition concerns are limited,” said the distributor, which plans to “finalize” the transaction in the summer of 2024.