Carrefour has signed an agreement to acquire Turkish supermarket chain Ipek, with the transaction valued at approximately €24m.
Ipek operates 27 supermarkets in Istanbul under the Alpark banner and recorded net sales of TL79m (€41m) in 2009.
The transaction is subject to the approval of competition authorities. Following that approval, the acquired stores will be converted to the Carrefour Express / Carrefour Market banners over the coming months.
Carrefour said in a statement that the transaction illustrated its strategy of strengthening its presence in growth countries in which the Group had leadership positions.
Carrefour operates in Turkey through its subsidiaries CarrefourSA (58.2 per cent owned by Carrefour and 39.8 per cent by partner Sabanci) and DiaSA (60 per cent owned by Carrefour and 40 per cent by Sabanci).
In 2009, Carrefour posted net sales in Turkey of €1.38bn through its 26 hypermarkets, 165 supermarkets and 675 hard discount stores.
