Alex Trelinski
FRENCH retailer Auchan says its Spanish subsidiary Alcampo will buy 235 supermarkets and a warehouse from the struggling DIA group
Subject to clearances from competition authorities, the deal should be concluded within weeks with all transfers completed before the summer of 2023.
The stores will be in the northern and central areas of Spain covering the regions of Aragon, Asturias, the Basque Country, Cantabria, Castilla y Leon, Galicia, Madrid and Navarra.
The warehouse will be in Valladolid.
Auchan Retail CEO, Yves Claude, said: “The purchase significantly strengthens our presence in a country of strategic importance for our brand with the ambition of accelerating our growth in Spain.”
DIA says it wants to focus entirely on smaller shops and will reinvest the money from Auchan in a new business model to turnaround its fortunes.
DIA is owned by the LetterOne investment firm, co-founded by Russian oligarch, Mikhail Fridman.
The company, which also operates in Portugal, Brazil, and Argentina, reported losses of over €500 million in 2019.
It converted a similar amount of debt in November 2020 into new equity as part of a business transformation plan.
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