The “board of directors” chaired by Moez-Alexandre Zouari, 51, of Tunisian origin, is of a very particular kind. Here, no big shot in finance or former political figure, or even attendance tokens. With his wife, Soraya, and their three daughters, strategic decisions are made in the evenings in their Parisian apartment.
Unknown to the general public, Mr. Zouari is discreetly gaining power in the retail sector, by multiplying acquisitions over the past two years. In 2021, the Zouari family arrives at 128and rank of the richest in France in the ranking Challenges, with 800 million euros on the clock. The Picard frozen food brand? It’s him. The takeover of the low-cost household equipment and decoration chains Dya Shopping and Maxi Bazar? It’s also him. The Stokomani discounter? Him again. Operations financed in particular thanks to its real estate assets. “We often own the walls of stores, which allows us to finance our growth. Our debt is under control, with very reasonable ratios”he confides.
At the end of 2022, Mr. Zouari will be at the head of more than 1,500 stores. But do not tell him especially that he is building a group. “There is no Zouari group, it is the family office who invests directly »he insists. “We don’t just allocate funds, we build the family heritage”adds Edouard Lacoste, a former real estate entrepreneur, who in 2017 became the general manager of the structure.
“We cannot leave Action as the only leader”
His various investments are, at first glance, messy, but Mr. Zouari has an idea in mind. “For twenty years, consumption has been a soft underbelly. Everything was mid-range. C & A, mass distribution… For a few years, we have seen a polarization of consumption, like that of society, moreover”with a section of the population looking for “quality, operational excellence, five-stars”. And another “where the customer needs prices, because the crisis in purchasing power creates frustration”.
It has therefore set itself the objective of building one of the leading non-food discount players in France and is aiming for 1 billion euros in turnover in the short term. “We can’t leave Action as the only leader, it doesn’t make sense”he believes, faced with the dazzling development of the Dutch brand, which has installed more than six hundred stores in France since his arrival in 2012. To achieve this, he intends to quench his thirst for acquisitions again, in a sector made up of a multitude of small networks.
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