The evening ended at Carrefour headquarters on Tuesday, January 12, after the Bloomberg agency revealed that the French food trade group was the subject of an attempt to merge with the Canadian convenience store giant. Alimentation Koche-Tard Service Stations.

Both companies are listed on the stock exchange, and financial markets are likely to have the best time in a period of bad financial news. So the rumors need to be silenced quickly. Carrefour approached Alimentation Koche-Tard Group friendly and cordially for the merger project. Discussions are very preliminary ”, The French distribution company said in a statement issued overnight.

Alimentation was confirmed by Koche-Tard at the same time “Exploration talks have begun with Carrefour aimed at a friendly and cordial agreement between the two companies, the terms of which are still under discussion. At this stage it is not certain that these exploration exchanges will lead to a contract or action ”. Carrefour, who arrived on the phone, declined to comment further.

14,200 stores worldwide

Unknown in France, the Canadian group led by entrepreneur Alan Bouchard is a decent-sized player across the Atlantic Ocean. It has over 16,000 stores in 27 countries around the world. The Toronto Stock Exchange is valued at 37 billion Canadian dollars (23.8 billion euros) and 12.64 billion d. Euro for Carrefour.

Formed in 1980 with the first convenience store in Laval, Quebec, the group specializes in what it calls “convenience stores” in Canada, opening seven days a week, sometimes selling petrol. Built through a series of acquisitions, the group operates a network of 9,261 stores in North America, of which 8,085 have corner stores or service stations under the Circle K brand. The company says it employs about 109,000 people across the network in the area.

In Europe, Norwegian oil and gas giant Statoil was valued at $ 2.8 billion (approximately 2.1 billion euros). It is also found in the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Ireland or Poland. As of October 2020, there were 2,722 stores, most of which combine gasoline pumps and mini-markets, and the rest are unmanned automated service stations. The group also sells fuel for the aviation sector and energy for stationary engines. It employs approximately 22,000 people in Europe, including franchise stores.

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