Carrefour CFO denies plans to merge with Fnac Darty (Merger Market)
23 JAN 2018
- Carrefour to remain largest shareholder in Carrefour China
- Minority stake acquisitions not ruled out as part of EUR 2.8bn digital investment plan
Carrefour [EPA:CA] has no plans to acquire a minority or majority stake in Fnac Darty [EPA:FNAC], the supermarket group's CFO Mathieu Malige told this news service on the sidelines of the group's transformation plan presented today (23 January) in Paris.
"We have a purchasing agreement, that's all," he said.
Carrefour and Fnac Darty on 5 December announced the signature of an agreement relating to a purchasing partnership for domestic appliances and consumer electronics in France.
This cooperation should be effective for the 2018 supplier negotiations. Carrefour and Fnac Darty will maintain independent commercial policies, a joint press release read.
Late last year, it was reported that rumours pointing to a merger between Fnac Darty and Carrefour had intensified in the context of a long-awaited disclosure of the France-based grocery retailer's operational turnaround plan.
As part of its transformation plan, Carrefour pledged to invest EUR 2.8bn in digital to strengthen its market position in omnichannel services (web to store, delivery, mobile and e-payment) and to reach a EUR 5bn revenues in food e-commerce by 2022 (vs. EUR 850m in 2017), CEO Alexandre Bompard announced today during the presentation.
Bompard and Malige were formerly CEO and CFO of Fnac Darty, respectively.
The French supermarket group also announced the potential acquisition of a stake in its subsidiary (Carrefour China) by Chinese internet giant Tencent [HKG: 0700] and Chinese fresh food retailer, Yonghui Superstores [SHE: 601933] for an undisclosed value.
“Carrefour will specify in due time what will be the exact stakes Yonghui and Tencent will acquire,” the CFO said. Carrefour will retain the largest stake in Carrefour China, he added.
It has not been yet decided whether the combined stakes of Tencent and Yonghui will represent a majority stake, the CFO said, declining to give further details.
Digital transformation
As part of the EUR 2.8bn investment in digital, Carrefour does not rule out acquiring other minority stakes in innovative start-ups and companies to accelerate the group's digital transformation, and the development of “omnichannel” services, Malige told this news service.
“However potential minority stake acquisitions won’t be central for Carrefour's transformation plan,” he said, adding the group did not plan to raise its 17% stake in French online private sales specialist Showroomprivé [EPA:SRP].
Earlier this month, Carrefour announced it had agreed to acquire a 17% stake in Showroomprivé from Conforama, a subsidiary of the Steinhoff group [FRA:SNH].
The transaction will be made as an off-market acquisition of the block of shares owned by Conforama at price of EUR 13.5 per share, for a total EUR 79m, as reported.
Carrefour shares are today trading at EUR 19.30, giving it a market capitalisation of EUR 14.9bn.