10 March 2005 - The Board of Carrefour has approved the accords signed on the 21st January 2005 with the Italian company Finiper, in which Carrefour has a 20% stake.
These accords, concluded within the framework of the partnership created in 1997 with Mr. Marco Brunelli, the principal shareholder in Finiper, are intended to reinforce the financial links between Carrefour and Finiper.
This will be undertaken through a call option for Carrefour over 31% of Finiper, and a put option for Mr. Brunelli over approximately 80% of the shares of Finiper not already owned by Carrefour. A variety of valuation methods will be used to determine the cost of exercising the options. Applying these methods today would value Finiper at around 60% of net sales for 100% of the company.
This operation is part of Carrefour’s strategy to reinforce its market position in Italy. It follows the franchising agreement with Ce.Di.Marche in the Marches region involving 66 supermarkets and 38 convenience stores.
Finiper operates today 24 hypermarkets with ex VAT sales in 2004 of €1.6bn.
Carrefour Italy at the end of February operated 1246 hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores under banner, of which 411 are integrated and the remainder franchised. Carrefour Italy achieved 2004 sales of €5.9bn.