The retail giant Carrefour had already bought the Cora and Match brands this year.
After Intermarché/Les Mousquetaires, the Competition Authority gave the green light to Carrefour to buy 25 Casino stores, under conditions.
Carrefour will be able to complete the purchase of 25 Casino stores, after the authorization granted by the Competition Authority this Friday, December 13, but under conditions. The distributor will have to sell, in exchange, two points of sale located in Argenteuil and in the second arrondissement of Paris, specifies a press release published this Friday.
An “untenable” financial situation
The body responsible for ensuring that competition between distributors is not too weak at the local level had authorized the takeover of 200 Casino stores by another mass distribution giant, Intermarché/Les Mousquetaires, in exchange for eleven of its points of sale.
Concerned by a financial situation that has become “untenable”, the Casino supermarket and hypermarket chain was forced to sell almost all of its stores. Another of its competitors, Auchan, had then bought around a hundred of its points of sale, although the Competition Authority has not yet ruled on this operation, as concerning the purchase of the Cora and Match brands by Carrefour, this year.
The final decisions of the body should be known at the beginning of 2025. In the meantime, these operations could be carried out thanks to a “exemption with suspensive effect”granted by the latter, “in order to take into account the difficult economic situation of stores”. The points of sale concerned have therefore already changed brand.
Debts and multiple transfers
With 200,000 employees around the world at the end of 2022, the large food distribution brand Casino has plunged itself into a complex financial situation by going into debt and increasing its sales. This year, the group had to restructure its debt in significant proportions. The first shareholder and manager Charles Naouri then handed over to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky and his allies to take control of the group.
Although almost all of the Casino stores have been sold, the distributor which owns, among others, Monoprix, Franprix, Vival and Spar today employs just over 30,000 people worldwide. However, a social plan currently under discussion threatens nearly 3,000 jobs, unions have warned.
