07-06-2022
Grupo Carrefour Brasil announces, today (07), the conclusion of the acquisition of Grupo Big. With this, the retailer expands its cash & carry formats, hypermarkets and supermarkets, and joins new models, such as the Sam’s Club shopping club. In the coming months, most of Grupo Big’s stores will be converted to Carrefour banners, with the majority being for Atacadão. In this way, the company will have more than 1,000 points of sale throughout the country and will receive 15 million new consumers, expanding its current base of 45 million customers per month. In the Northeast, more than 250 units will be converted. In the South region, the number of stores will triple, reaching approximately 200 operations.
New Shareholder Structure
The transaction, worth R$ 7 billion, was paid for 70% in cash and 30% through the issuance of new shares of Carrefour Brasil. After the operation, the shareholding will be distributed 67.7% to Grupo Carrefour Global, 7.2% to Península Participações and 5.6% to Advent International and Walmart. The expectation is that the integration of Big will add R$2 billion annually to the company’s adjusted Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) starting in 2025.
In this way, Carrefour strengthens its position in large distribution in Brazil, one of the markets with the greatest strategic growth potential for the French giant’s plans. In this sense, Alexandre Bompard, CEO of Carrefour, has reaffirmed the intentions of inorganic growth of the group: «Our group is on the offensive: The acquisition of Big Group is an important movement of transformation for Carrefour Brazil», he pointed out. For Carrefour, the two groups present «a strong geographical complementarity» and the purchase will offer an extension of its presence in regions where it had a «limited» penetration, such as the northeast and the south of the country. In this sense, Bompard highlights that it is «a great movement of transformation for Carrefour Brazil» in a country «with immense development prospects.» An operation, he adds, that fits «perfectly» in the ecosystem of its Brazilian subsidiary and in its external growth strategy «focused on the consolidation of our key markets».
Grupo Big, present in Brazil since 1995, has a network of 387 stores and a turnover of about 4.08621 million dollars. Its adjusted EBITDA was 152,242 million dollars in 2020. Carrefour, for its part, has operated 489 stores since its arrival in Brazil in 1975 and in 2020 it had a turnover of 12,2608 million dollars. In this way, the two combined groups reach gross sales of around 107,137 million of 16,413 million dollars, with some 876 stores and 137,000 employees.
The purchase of Big Brasil offers a substantial potential for synergies from the first year, with a gradual increase until it represents an additional contribution to the gross operating result of some 278,556 million dollars three years after the closing of the transaction, according to the multinational French.
Board Changes
Carrefour also announces changes in its Board of Directors. The new staff includes Alexandre Bompard (Global CEO of the Carrefour Group) as president and Abilio Diniz as vice-president. Among the new members are: Patrice Etlin (Managing Partner of Advent International in Latin America), Laurent Vallée (Global Secretary General of Carrefour), Elodie Perthuisot (Global Digital Director of Carrefour), Claudia Almeida e Silva (Independent Member) and Vânia Neves (Independent member). The new executives join Matthieu Malige (Global CFO of Carrefour and former Chairman of the Board in Brazil), Jérôme Nanty, Claire du Payrat, Stéphane Maquaire and Eduardo Rossi. The new composition will be presented to the shareholders in an extraordinary meeting.
