Carrefour buy out Ahold Polska
deal worth €375m set to increase its share of the Polish food
retail market.
The transaction will consist of a cash consideration and assumed debt. The deal is expected to be finalised in the first half of 2007 and will be subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions, including anti-trust approval.
"As part of our strategic retail review, we announced last month that we would be divesting our Polish retail operation," said Anders Moberg, AHOLD president and CEO.
Carrefour will gain 194 stores in the sale from Ahold Polska, 15 of which are hypernova hypermarkets and the remainder Albert supermarkets, dramatically increasing the French retailers share of the Polish food market.
Completion of the deal will rocket Carrefour to the number two position in the Polish Food retail market, and is part of the French supermarkets plan to invest in growth markets.
In 2005 Carrefour Polska reported sales of €1,173m. As of 2006 the food retailer has been trading from 38 hypermarkets and 78 supermarkets with a sales area of around 390,000sq m.
