French DIY company Bricorama will not sell Gamma’s Belgian and Dutch stores. There was a longstanding rumour to that nature, but the company has now refuted those claims.
Work towards a solution
Bricorama currently manages 41 Belgian and 34 Dutch stores and also has a 3 % stake in Dutch Intergamma. When it was revealed that Irish CRH wanted to sell its Intergamma shares a month ago, rumours surfaced that Bricorama would do the same and also wanted to sell its entire store network.
The company now refutes those claims, although it will look for a solution now that CRH will leave. “The plan’s execution cannot detract from the historically cooperative model that was the foundation for franchise organization Intergamma. The franchisees also have their say about the organization and want to keep that structure going”, the company said.
CRH has 156 Gamma stores and 49 % of Intergamma’s shares, but wants to sell that for 140 million euro. There have been two separate proposals now, coming from Intergamma’s board: the board wants to move those shares to an independent foundation, while the other shareholders want to destroy the shares after they have been acquired. The other shareholders fear the independent foundation will only do the board’s bidding.
The board’s plan was finally approved, but 20 % still disapproved, about half of shareholder with no ties to either CRH or the board.
