Jan. 9 - As one of the leading European trading and travel and tourism companies REWE Group further strengthens its market position in Italy. By taking over the food trading chain UNICA, the company strengthens its supermarket division in the economically important region of Piemont. In the course of more than 30 years, the owner family Collivignarelli – with finally 18 UNI supermarkets, 600 employees and a turnover of 130 million euros – has managed to become the market leader in the region situated between the cities of Novara, Borgomanero and Lake Maggiore.
"Following the successful restructuring of the tradition-rich trade chain company Standa, which was acquired in 2001, as well as the integration of our Billa supermarkets, we continue our expansion on the Italian market with this takeover. With a total turnover of more than two billion euros, Italy is our second-largest foreign market after Austria. The target-oriented expansion of the discount chain PENNY from the north to the south of the country has contributed considerably to this achievement", said Alain Caparros, CEO of REWE Group, in Cologne. By opening the first PENNY market in Mazara del Vallo at the end of the past year, the initial step was made for setting-up a store base on Sicily. "We will successively expand our position on the Italian food trading market by an organic growth and the possibility of takeovers, which are being examined at the moment", said Caparros.
"By taking over UNICA, REWE Group has not only strengthened its market position. The strong know-how of the company in the areas of customer expectations, customer service, the freshness of products and the local focus of the supermarkets will further improve also our company in qualitative terms, added Francesco Rivolta, Managing Director of REWE Group Italia, in Milan.
In Italy, REWE Group runs 245 PENNY discount stores, 245 Standa stores – of which 152 are operated by independent retailers – 66 Billa stores and 11 Bipa drugstores. The 567 branch stores have managed to pass the threshold of two billion euros in turnover. With a turnover of well above 43 billion euros and 270,000 employees in 14 countries, REWE Group is one of the leading European trading and travel and tourism companies.