Carrefour announced yesterday that it has entered into an agreement with Belgium’s Louis Delhaize group to acquire its Cora and Match banners in France.
The French supermarket giant’s first major acquisition in its home market in more than two decades is valued at €1.05bn and includes 60 hypermarkets and 115 supermarkets.
The Cora and Match banners operating in France generated sales of €5.2bn in 2022 and EBITDA of €189m. They have a particularly strong market share in Eastern and Northern France, where Carrefour has little presence.
The transaction is expected to close in the summer of 2024, with Carrefour seeing potential synergies of €110m in EBITDA annually three years after the deal’s completion. It forecasts “integration costs”, including investments and operating expenses, at €200m over a two-year period.
“With the acquisition of the Cora and Match banners, Carrefour is announcing its first major acquisition in France in more than twenty years and consolidates its leading position in food retail in its domestic market,” said Alexandre Bompard, Chairman and Chief Executive.
“This transaction also demonstrates our ability to pursue our external growth strategy through targeted acquisitions, providing market share and synergies, thanks to the transformation initiated six years ago and the strength of our balance sheet. The Carrefour Group will be able to provide the acquired stores with a powerful commercial and operational model, very complementary to Cora and Match’s know-how, thanks to its own brand, digital acceleration and its purpose, the food transition for all.”
