Carrefour has announced that it has signed an agreement with the Louis Delhaize Group to acquire its activities in Romania.
The deal includes 10 Cora hypermarkets, and eight Cora Urban stores, and nearly 2,400 employees.
The move will mark the exit of Louis Delhaize from the Romanian market.
The transaction, expected to be completed by the end of 2023, is subject to the approval of the relevant competition authorities.
Carrefour entered Romania in 2001 and currently operates 43 hypermarkets, 189 supermarkets, 143 convenience stores, and 29 soft discount stores.
Cora
Cora is the only retailer in Romania that has seen a decline in business since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report in the publication RetailDetail.
Sales fell by 5% year-on-year in 2021 and the company also recorded losses in this period.
In 2021, Cora's retail holding company sold the real estate of the hypermarkets, which it then leased back from the new owner, the report noted.
Read More: Top 10 Supermarket Retail Chains In Romania
Carrefour Romania
In 2022, Carrefour Romania grew by 9%. It is nearly ten times the size of Cora.
Romania is the second-best growth market after Poland for Carrefour.
According to Pierre Bouriez, managing director of Louis Delhaize Group, the company is proud of the achievements of its team in Romania over the last few years and pleased to offer a new dynamic to the chain and its staff of Cora Romania.
"It is with emotion that we leave the country, but also reassured to know that this activity will be able to continue and develop," Bouriez was quoted in the report.
Read More: Romanian Food Retail Sales To Exceed €22bn In 2022, Study Finds
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest Retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
