After the definitive cancellation of its Brazilian merger plans with Pão de Açúcar, rumours have spread that Carrefour wants to swing the other way and sell its Brazilian activities. These rumours also say that Wal-Mart would be an interested buyer, shooting the American chain’s shares sky-high on Wall Street… even though Carrefour denies the rumours vigorously.
Aiming for the #1 spot in Brazil
The Brazilian financial newspaper Valor Econômico was the first to spread the ‘news’ that Carrefour was holding negociations with Wal-Mart about the sale of the former’s activities in Brazil. Wal-Mart is at present Brazil’s number three, but a takeover of Carrefour’s Brazilian activities would take them straight to number one.
Kevin Gardner, Wal-Mart spokesman, says that his company will not respond to rumours. According to VE however, Wal-Mart’s senior vice-president international business John Peter Suarez has declared last June that his group was looking for takeover opportunities to conquer the market leader spot in Brazil.
Important markets
Carrefour too is looking to grow in emerging markets like Brazil, Indonesia and China to compensate for its home market disappointments. Also in June, CEO Lars Olofsson said that there was no way Carrefour was going to sell its activities in emerging markets as they were too important for the group. After Carrefour’s takeover of Pão de Açúcar failed, CFO Pierre Bouchut repeated the same message.
