“Carrefour to pay 155 million euros for Colruyt Group’s French neighborhood store division”

According to the French business publication La Lettre, Carrefour is on the verge of acquiring Codifrance, the Colruyt Group subsidiary that supplies neighborhood stores such as Coccinelle and Coccimarket.

3,000 neighborhood stores

Carrefour is reportedly willing to pay 155 million euros for Codifrance, Colruyt Group’s French wholesale division, which serves a network of approximately 3,000 smaller neighborhood stores, about 700 of which operate under brands such as Coccinelle, Coccimarket, Panier Sympa, VivÉco, and Épi Service. The retailer would take over the 500 employees and two logistics facilities.

The news comes from the typically well-informed website La Lettre. Codifrance, the Colruyt Group’s only remaining operation in France following the sale of its French supermarkets, has annual revenue of 310 million euros.

According to La Lettre, Carrefour aims to strengthen its position in the neighborhood grocery segment with this acquisition. Intermarché is also said to have shown interest in the wholesaler, but Carrefour is offering more. Furthermore, with this acquisition, Carrefour can prevent its own franchisees from sourcing goods more cheaply from Codifrance outside the group—a practice that is apparently common. Official confirmation of the deal is still pending.