Rewe Group has announced plans to purchase 65 supermarkets from Tengelmann in a bid to enhance its presence in the Rhein-Main-Neckar region of the country.
Tengelmann is also set to offload 20 outlets to fellow German retailer Tegut, according to a report by IGD.
'The Rhein-Main-Neckar region is of great importance for our company,' said Alain Caparros, CEO of Rewe Group. 'The Tengelmann branches complement the location of our Rewe stores very well. The acquisition will allow us to further strengthen our ability to offer a thorough neighbourhood service coverage.'
Meanwhile, Rewe Group has this week been awarded an outlook of BBB – or 'stable' – by ratings agency Standard & Poor's, a move that saw the retailer become the first company with a cooperative organisation to obtain an internationally recognised rating.
'Requirements based on market strategy led to record acquisitions for the group during 2008, which of course have had an impact on our financial indicators,' noted chief financial officer Norbert Fiebig. 'The goal of our financial policies is to steer the relevant performance indicators in the direction of BBB over the next two years.'
