Great interest for French supermarkets Colruyt

French media report a larger-than-expected number of retailers are interested to acquire (at least some of) Colruyt‘s 101 supermarkets in France. Carrefour, Coopérative U, E.Leclerc and Intermarché are all among the possible candidates.

Target: May

While the Belgian retailer has not yet officially confirmed the plans to sell its loss-making French supermarkets, which were leaked in February, today it appears that the sales process is already at an advanced stage. Various candidates have submitted their proposals and the whole process should be completed by the end of May, an insider told the French trade website LSA.

None of the four retailers explicitly named as potential buyers (Carrefour, Coopérative U, E.Leclerc and Intermarché) have been willing to comment. However, various retailers did anonymously confirm to LSA that they are working on the project. The main issues would be the head office with 350 employees and the three distribution centres.