Carrefour, Auchan sell stores
developments for their foreign subsidiaries. In Spain, Carrefour
has sold 45 Champion supermarket outlets, while in the US, Auchan
will close its two Texan hypermarkets to focus on Europe and Asia.
Carrefour, the French retail giant, has sold 59 Spanish supermarkets operating under the Champion fascia to a consortium of three French investment groups.
The price paid by the three companies - CNP, Ecureuil Vie and Predica - was not disclosed.
Carrefour will continue to operate the stores as tenant, but the sale will help it to raise cash to pursue its core strategy in Spain, essentially the takeover of the Centros Commerciales Carrefour unit, without any loss of outlets or custom.
The group has already carried out a similar operation with the French Klepierre group, which now owns five shopping centres previously run by Carrefour.
Carrefour's takeover of CCC is continuing as planned, with the French company now controlling 97.18 per cent of the subsidiary. The retailer announced in November last year that it was to make an offer for the 20.27 per cent of CCC which it did not already own - so far, it has added a further 17.45 per cent.
Meanwhile, Carrefour's French rival Auchan, which is also a major player in Spain via the Alcampo fascia, has also announced plans to reduce its portfolio of stores, this time in the US.
The company said it would close its two hypermarkets in Houston, Texas, within the next three months. Both stores are loss-making as a result of fierce competition in the local market.
Auchan said that the closure of its US stores would allow it concentrate on high-priority development areas such as Poland, Hungary and Russia in Russia and China and Taiwan in Asia.
