Food retailer Sligro acquires Metro activities in Belgium (updated)

Metro AG

07/12/2022 13:28

(Adds details, CEO quote)
    By Juliette Portala and Dina Kartit
       Dec 7 (Reuters) - Dutch food retailer Sligro Food Group
 SLIGR.AS  said on Wednesday it would buy a chunk of German
distribution company Metro's  B4B.DE  activities in Belgium.
    Sligro, which will take over nine Metro wholesalers across
the country and about a hundred employees from the regional
network and head office, will pay 47 million euros ($49.31
million) for the outlets.
    "In recent years we have been preparing the organisational
structure, our teams, and the logistics and the IT
infrastructure in Belgium for this development. We are
incredibly excited to be able to put that all into action now,"
Sligro's chief executive Koen Slippens said.
    The group added it would offer workers from Metro's Antwerp
North outlet, which it won't be taking over, jobs at the nearby
Sligro-ISPC outlet, while the Evergem outlet and its staff would
be transferred to food service market wholesaler Van Zon.
    Sligro said the Belgian Competition Authority, which
supervises Metro's restructuring in the country, had granted an
exception based on its earlier investigation that would allow
the transaction could go ahead immediately.
    Once the deal is completed, Sligro will briefly close the
outlets and reopen them one by one within a few days, after
implementing its technical infrastructure and new products.
    The Dutch retailer said it expected significantly lower
revenue after the reopening of all the outlets by mid-January.
    Prior to Metro's restructuring in Belgium, the acquired part
had generated annual revenue of around 300 million euros, and
Sligro expects it to return to these levels within a few years.
($1 = 0.9532 euros)
 (Reporting by Juliette Portala and Dina Kartit, Editing by
Louise Heavens and Milla Nissi)
 ((juliette.portala@tr.com ; +48 587 696 607))