Casino has outlined plans to make Colombian retailer Exito, in which the French firm holds a majority stake, a regional player in South America.
In a deal announced today (30 June), Casino has sold its majority stakes in two retailers in Uruguay to Exito as part of plans towards the “internationalisation” of the Colombian firm.
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Exito, in which Casino has a 54.8% stake, has bought the French firm’s shares in Uruguyan retailers Disco and Devoto for US$746m.
The two retailers run 53 stores in Uruguay, including 28 Disco and 24 Devoto supermarkets, as well as one Géant hypermarket. Their combined sales are expected to be US$770m in 2011. Casino said the retailers had double the market share of their nearest competitors in Uruguay’s “modern food distribution market”.
Casino pointed to the “synergy” benefit of the deal. “The combination of Exito with Disco and Devoto will strengthen the integration of two companies operating in countries with strong linguistic and cultural similarities. It will allow the generation of synergies, which have not been possible so long as the companies were operated separately,” it said.
Exito is planning further expansion and intends to raise $1.4bn through an issue of new shares in the company. Casino will keep its 54.8% stake in the business and will buy shares on a pro-rata basis, it added.
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