A number of retail groups, including Carrefour and Jerónimo Martins, are said to be interested in the acquisition of Polish supermarket chain Piotr i Paweł, according to local media reports.
Rzeczpospolita reports that several retail companies and investment funds are currently analysing financial data from the Polish retailer, and may later express an interest in buying the company.
This is said to include French retail giant Carrefour, as well as Portugal's Jeronimo Martins, which operates the Biedronka chain in Poland, and ITM, which operates Intermarche and Bricomarche.
Potential Sale
At the start of this year, ESM reported that Piotr i Paweł was on the hunt for a strategic investor that could either take a majority stake in the business or take over the business altogether.
The group, which operates 148 supermarkets across Poland, held a number of meetings with potential investors.
“All possibilities are open,” a source told ESM. “If somebody wants to take over all 100% of the business, we will talk to them.”
Piotr i Paweł is owned by Eleonora Woś and her two sons Piotr and Paweł, who give the business its name. It has been in operation for 27 years, and posted net sales of around 1.7 billion Polish zloty last year.
However, the business is understood to have cash flow problems, which have escalated in recent years, as a result of the increased competition in the Polish market.
Last month, Piotr i Paweł secured financial investment from Warsaw-based investment fund TFI Capital Partners.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
