Carrefour is talking about a merger again, but this time it would be the company making the acquisition. The retailer is looking to take over Prosol, owner of the French fresh food retailer Grand Frais. That chain has about 20 stores, but aims to have 100 branches by 2025. Prosol has also opened two stores in Italy under the Banco Fresco banner. The takeover could cost between 3 and 4 billion euros.
One financial analyst said, “Carrefour’s finance department is increasingly emphasising to investors and analysts the retailer's desire to make tactical acquisitions in countries where it is already present, following the acquisitions of Wellcome in Taiwan, Supersol in Spain and Makro in Brazil in 2020”.
The news about the Prosol deal comes shortly after Carrefour made headlines by announcing that it was in discussions to be acquired by Canadian convenience store retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard. A few days later the retailers said the merger talks had been halted after the French government said it disapproved of the merger.