Wednesday January 13th 2021
Update
Especially active in France
Canadians reach for Carrefour
Grocers have come through the Corona crisis well so far. Most of them stayed open during lockdowns. Nevertheless, the competition is fierce. Now a billion dollar deal is looming in the industry. At the center is Europe's industry leader.
Europe's largest retail group Carrefour is targeted by Canadian competitor Alimentation Couche-Tard. The Canadians announced that Couche-Tard had submitted a non-binding takeover offer of 20 euros per share. You value Carrefour at around 16 billion euros. But Couche-Tard still wanted to look into Carrefour's books. Couche-Tard's market cap is around $ 37 billion. The French also confirmed that Couche Tard had approached them.
The shares of the French trader shot up and were listed at an annual high of 18.10 euros – almost two euros below the non-binding offer. With a takeover, the Canadians could strengthen their presence in Europe.
Analysts had expected a consolidation of the market in Europe and France in view of the growing competition from online retailers. In addition, grocers are growing in the Corona crisis – they are usually not affected by the state lockdowns. The North American Sysco group had talks with the wholesaler Metro – but these remained without results.
Couche-Tard, which was only founded in 1980, mainly operates petrol stations and the associated shops in its home market. The group has more than 130,000 employees worldwide – around 22,000 of them in Europe – more than 14,200 stores. In Europe, the group is mainly represented in Scandinavia and the Baltic states. In the last fiscal year, he turned over almost $ 60 billion.
Carrefour has almost 13,000 stores in more than 30 countries. The French cover the whole range from supermarkets to wholesale markets. Analysts said, however, that there are hardly any synergies between the two retailers. There was also hardly any geographic overlap.
.