Carrefour’s acquisition of Cora hypermarkets in Romania approved by market watchdog

Carrefour Romania has obtained approval from the Competition Council for the acquisition of Cora hypermarkets, with the transaction expected to be completed in the coming weeks.

The French retailer signed a deal in April to acquire Cora's operations in Romania, which includes 10 hypermarkets and 8 Cora Urban convenience stores, along with approximately 2,400 employees, from the Belgian group Louiz Delhaize.

Carrefour has now announced that the acquisition has received antitrust approval without any remedies required. The takeover will be effective in the coming weeks.

In August, the Competition Council took over the transaction analysis duties from the European Commission.

Carrefour reported sales of EUR 706 million (including VAT) in Romania in the third quarter, a 4.5% increase compared to the same period in 2022. In the first nine months, sales grew by 7.9%, reaching EUR 2.032 billion. Internationally, Carrefour's sales reached EUR 23.63 billion in the third quarter, slightly below analysts' estimates, in a context of ongoing pressure on customer purchasing power, according to the company cited by Profit.ro.

Carrefour operates a network of approximately 12,000 stores in Europe, with nearly half of them in France. It is the largest food retailer in Europe and the second-largest in the world, with a total of 14,719 stores as of the end of September.

In Romania, the French group owns 413 stores, including 44 hypermarkets, 190 supermarkets, and 151 convenience stores.

(Photo source: the company)