Auchan sold its 2,000 Italian stores | Progresiv
Auchan puts an end to its Italian adventure. The French distributor announced that it has finalized the sale of its subsidiary, which has some 18,000 employees, as well as that of its Sicilian supermarkets. 
The Italian subsidiary Auchan Retail Italia owns approximately 1,600 stores of all formats – hypermarkets, supermarkets, ultra-proximity and digital businesses – under the Auchan and Simply brands, either on an own or franchise basis.
The distribution giant announced last May to sell the “almost all” to Conad, an Italian cooperative distribution group, for an unspecified amount. All it needed was the agreement of the authorities.
Conad, based in Bologna (north), achieved in 2011 a turnover of 13.4 billion euros in 3,225 points of sale. For its part, Auchan posted a turnover of 3.6 billion euros in the peninsula, but has recorded, since 2011, eight consecutive years of losses.
In addition, Auchan sold its 33 non-franchised supermarkets to the Arena Group, a leading family business in the Sicilian distribution sector.
Not listed on the stock market and owned by the Mulliez Family Association (AFM), Auchan Holding, which lost 1.145 billion euros in 2018, announced in early March a plan for “recovery” of its distribution sector.
At the end of April, the group had launched the sale of 21 sites in France potentially involving between 700 and 800 employees. In France, it has 637 stores under banners and employs 73,800 employees. (www.internationalsupermarketnews.com)
