Picard is now fully owned by French businessman Moez-Alexandre Zouari, whose family group previously held ‘only’ 49% of the shares. The transaction will be finalized by March 2025.
By the first quarter of 2025, 100% of Picard’s shares will be held by the company Invest Group Zouari, controlled by the family of businessman Moez-Alexandre Zouari. The latter already held 49% of the capital of the queen frozen food brand since 2020. The majority shareholder, at 51%, was the British investment fund Lion Capital. Moez-Alexandre Zouari has signed a promise to purchase to acquire all of the shares in the company. The transaction should be finalized in the first quarter of next year and mark the definitive exit of Lion Capital, after 15 years at Picard.
With Picard, the undisputed leader in frozen products in France, the Zouari family has acquired an additional network of 1,185 points of sale. In the press release published by his group, Moez-Alexandre, founder and president of the Zouari Family Office, declares: “This new stage is a continuation of the work started 4 years ago and allows us to further increase our commitment to Picard’s success. I look forward to working even more closely with management and employees, to pursue the ambitious development strategy that we have defined for Picard and thus work towards its success in France and internationally.”
This constitutes a new stage in the rise of Moez-Alexandre Zouari and his wife Soraya, a French couple of Tunisian origin. Starting from operating a Franprix supermarket in Paris in 1988, they built a small empire in local distribution until becoming master franchisees of the Casino Group and operating 500 points of sale under the Franprix, Monoprix, Monop’ and Leader Price brands. and to reach a turnover of 1.5 billion euros in 2018. In 2019, Zouari acquired 44.5% of Picard’s shares, an operation financed with the resale of 198 Leader Price to Casino. The Zouari couple also invested in non-food retail, buying Maxi Bazar (furniture) in 2021 and Stokomani, a clearance brand, in April 2022. Moez-Alexandre Zouari also joined forces with businessmen Matthieu Pigasse and Xavier Niel to create a company dedicated to sustainable consumption. After merging with InVivo, owned by agricultural cooperatives, it became the distribution group Teract, which was not selected for the takeover of the struggling Casino Group. Moez-Alexandre Zouari will not be left with this disappointment for long.
