Carrefour and Auchan are discussing a possible merger, which would create a giant player, writes the Brazilian press, citing market sources.
However, such a move would have to go through regulators and competition both in France and in other markets where both players are active.
For example, both Carrefour and Auchan are present in Romania, so that an association between the two would lead to a player with a business of 3.7 billion euros and over 450 stores in several formats.
The two networks would thus come to control almost a quarter of modern local trade, according to last year’s results.
Of all the food-dominant trade means – modern or traditional – such a company would eat 17-18%, according to Mediafax.ro.
The information about a potential merger comes a few months after Carrefour announced that it is analyzing potential alliances, but also transactions for the sale or purchase of assets in the foreign markets in which it operates.
In Romania, Carrefour is the number three player, after Lidl became the market leader last year, and the sister company Kaufland is number two. The two German networks are owned by the same Schwarz group, but are operated completely separately. The first three players are very close as a business in Romania.
Auchan is on the seventh place in the market, with business of 5.5 billion lei (1.1 billion euros), stable in recent years. Auchan has opened 35 convenience stores since the beginning of this year, all located within the Petrom gas stations in the country, this being a project that started in 2017. In total, in Romania, the company has 33 hypermarkets, a network of 72 convenience stores – including 63 in Petrom stations – and five supermarkets, plus its own online operations.
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