Strongly established in the Grand Est region, the Cora and Match brands are now part of the Carrefour group. Its CEO was in a store in Nancy this Monday, July 1, 2024 to symbolically seal this acquisition.
Historically established in the Grand Est region, Cora hypermarkets will switch to the Carrefour brand by the end of the year, while the Match brand will be retained.
It was in Houdemont, in the Nancy metropolitan area, that CEO Alexandre Bompard symbolically sealed this acquisition on Monday, July 1, 2024.Carrefour carries out its largest operation in France for over twenty years and consolidates its leadership in food distribution on its domestic market” said the CEO, “Cora and Match bring to Carrefour quality, profitable assets that are highly complementary to the existing portfolio, and will benefit in return from the reputation of our brand, the power of our own brand, and our growth in e-commerce.“.
The acquisition of the Belgian group Louis Delhaize, which also includes the purchasing center Provera, is carried out on the basis of an enterprise value of 1.05 billion euros. Louis Delhaize owned 60 Cora hypermarkets and 115 Match supermarkets. According to Carrefour, they represent approximately 2.4% of the food distribution market and employ 22,000 people. This acquisition, “the most important for Carrefour since the acquisition of Promodès“in 1999, according to CEO Alexandre Bompard, allowed Carrefour to consolidate its second place behind E.Leclerc, which holds almost a quarter of the market, and ahead of Les Mousquetaires/Intermarché which bought many stores from the struggling Casino group.
During a telephone press briefing on Monday, Alexandre Bompard specified that “from October, each Cora store that changes its brand” will lower prices “by at least 10% on nearly 3,000 products” sold. A figure to be compared with the number of references sold in hypermarkets, between 20 and 35,000.
In a letter to new employees seen by AFP on Monday, Alexandre Bompard explains that Cora must “get a new lease of life“while Match”will keep its singularity“The project will be presented to the social partners”in the next few days“, he continues.
On the union side, the FGTA-FO, the majority union at Carrefour and widely established at Cora with 40% representation, explained that it “will be extremely vigilant in defending the collective and individual interests of employees. Carrefour’s growth will not be to the detriment of those who, every day, through their work, make Cora and Match valuable.“.
When this acquisition was announced a year ago, the CFDT Services announced that it feared “a new deterioration with these buyouts and mass departures. Employees will have to be supported in these transformations. This support cannot be limited to mass departure plans“.
