French retailer Carrefour SA has agreed to acquire Dia France, the French discount store chain operated by Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación SA of Spain, three years after opting to spin them off.
Following consultations with Dia’s employee representatives and approval of antitrust authorities, Carrefour would acquire the more than 800 stores for an enterprise value of 600 million euros, or $816 million at current exchange. Carrefour said stores total about 5.9 million square feet and generate sales of 2.3 billion euros, or $3.05 billion, in 2013.
Carrefour said the transaction would “contribute to the growth of Carrefour’s multiformat store network in its domestic market and would allow Carrefour to best serve its customers by offering services tailored to the evolution of their consumption habits.”
Carrefour spun off the stores in 2011 as part of a larger plan to sell numerous assets following a drop in operating profits in its home market.
Based in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, Carrefour is the world’s second-largest retailer with a presence in 34 countries, more than 10,000 stores and 2013 revenues of 100.2 billion euros, or $136 billion.