Carrefour announces the acquisition of the Cora and Match brands to strengthen its market share in France

Carrefour will take on two food retail brands. The French number two announced on Wednesday July 12 an agreement to buy Cora and Match. A significant acquisition, since it represents sixty hypermarkets and 115 supermarkets, under the Cora and Match brands respectively, and a total of 24,000 employees. “With the takeover of the Cora and Match brands, Carrefour announces its first major acquisition in France for more than twenty years and consolidates its leadership in food distribution in its domestic market”said Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard, quoted in a press release.

By adding the market shares of the Carrefour group (19.9%, according to data from Kantar Worldpanel) and the Louis Delhaize group (2.4%), with which Carrefour has just signed this agreement, the distributor would be closely on the heels of the leader of the sector in France, the group of independent E.Leclerc, which weighs 23.5% of the market. This also allows Carrefour to regain (theoretically) the lead over another group of independents, Intermarché, which has agreed with Casino to buy 119 stores from it within three years.