2023-07-13 18:10:39
The big maneuvers are continuing in the distribution sector. This Wednesday, July 12, the French number 2 Carrefour announced the acquisition of 60 Cora hypermarkets and 115 Match supermarkets for an envelope of 1.05 billion euros. “Our group completes its first major acquisition in France for more than twenty years and consolidates its leadership in food distribution in its domestic marketwelcomed Alexandre Bompard, the chairman and CEO of the group, quoted in a press release. This friendly operation will allow Carrefour to continue the adventure started in France by the Bouriez family and the Louis Delhaize group. »
An increase in market share
With this new acquisition, Carrefour has a 22.3% share of the food market according to the latest figures from the Kantar survey company (19.9% for Carrefour supermarkets and 2.4% for Cora and Match stores) and is thus coming on the heels of the French number 1, the E.Leclerc group, which captured 23.5% of sales at the end of June 2023.
A takeover which is also an opportunity for Carrefour to conquer the East of France. « The Cora and Match store network has excellent locations and offers strong geographical complementarity with that of Carrefour”boasts the group in its press release. “The answer is a bit more nuanced than Carrefour’s storytelling”objects Oliver Dauvers, consumer specialist, on son site Internet.
If the Cora and Match supermarkets located in Lorraine are a godsend for Carrefour in order to capture new customers, others could place Carrefour in a quasi-monopoly situation, in the west or the Paris region in particular.
The group recalls it well in its press release: “The transaction remains notably subject to the approval of the French competition authority. ” “Impossible that there are not assignments”, observes Oliviers Dauvers. The sale of certain locations to other large retailers could therefore be an imperative condition for definitively integrating Cora and Match into the Carrefour group.
A market in turmoil
This announcement comes in a new momentum of concentration in the sector. On June 12, 2023, Casino management announced the sale of 119 stores to Intermarché, 57 of which will have changed brands by the end of the year, the others within three years. A welcome transaction for Casino, indebted to the tune of 6.4 billion euros.
For a time announced as interested in taking over the group from Saint-Etienne, Alexandre Bompard therefore seems to leave the field open to the other suitors: the duo Daniel Kretinsky and Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière and the trio led by Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse and Moez-Alexandre Zouari. judged “solid” by the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, the two offers will be studied on Monday July 17 by the group’s management and creditors.
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