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Bloomberg
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc, the Canadian convenience-store operator that owns the Circle K chain, is exploring a takeover of French grocer Carrefour SA, a deal that would create a trans-Atlantic retail giant.
Couche-Tard said it has started “exploratory discussions†on a friendly deal with Carrefour, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. There’s no certainty the talks will lead to a transaction, the Quebec-based company said.
Couche-Tard’s initial proposal values the French grocer at about 20 euros per share, people with knowledge of the matter said.
That would represent a roughly 29% premium to its closing price and value the firm at about 16.4 billion euros ($20 billion), according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Shares of Carrefour rose 14% in Paris on Wednesday. Couche-Tard slipped 2.2% after the initial Bloomberg report, closing at C$41.31 in Toronto and valuing the company at almost $36 billion. The French retailer confirmed the talks in a statement.
Couche-Tard’s focus has been convenience stores and gas stations, not supermarkets.
It has built an empire by methodically acquiring smaller rivals, first at home in Canada before entering the US in 2001 and Europe in 2012.
Lately its focus had been on the US and Asia Pacific regions, where it tried to buy Caltex Australia Ltd before deciding against a revised offer during the pandemic.
A deal with Carrefour would expand its presence in Europe, where its potential target operates more than 2,800 supermarkets and 703 larger-format hypermarkets, and in Latin America, where it has stores in Argentina and Brazil.
Carrefour, which has about 320,000 workers globally, is the biggest private employer in France.
The retailer generates about half its sales from the domestic market, where foreign takeovers of key companies are politically sensitive.
Couche-Tard, which started from a single store in a Montreal suburb in 1980, has a no-frills reputation, with top management known for visiting scores of stores before making acquisitions to spot the weaknesses.