French supermarket chain E.Leclerc has agreed to acquire 27 stores in Luxembourg from Louis Delhaize Group, for an undisclosed amount.
The deal will see E.Leclerc open its first stores in Luxembourg, where it currently has no presence.
The 27 stores include two Cora hypermarkets, 12 Match supermarkets and 13 Smatch convenience stores, located all over the country.
The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023, and E.Leclerc has pledged to retain all 1,200 jobs at the stores.
In a statement, E.Leclerc said the acquisition would 'strengthen [its] presence on a competitive European market, in formats that we master, and in a country where we were not yet present'.
The company added that its central procurement center in France's Grand Est region would support its newly-acquired Luxembourg operations.
E.Leclerc Network
E.Leclerc is the market leader in France, with a portfolio of more than 750 stores and a 23.5% market share.
The company is also present in other European countries, including Belgium, Spain, and Portugal.
Louis Delhaize Divestments
The divestment of the Luxembourg stores by Louis Delhaize Group comes only a week after Carrefour announced it would buy the group's French operations, trading under the Cora and Match banners, by the summer of 2024.
That deal was much larger, involving 60 hypermarkets, 115 supermarkets, and a total of 24,000 employees.
The transaction 'values the assets acquired on the basis of an enterprise value of €1.05 billion', according to Carrefour.
At the end of April, Carrefour signed another agreement with the Louis Delhaize group to take over Cora's activities in Romania.
The operation, which is expected to close by the end of the financial year 2023, includes 10 Cora hypermarkets and eight Cora Urban stores, and nearly 2,400 employees.
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