France’s Carrefour expands in convenience stores in Taiwan

By Dominique Vidalon

PARIS (Reuters) – French retailer Carrefour said on Tuesday it had agreed to buy food retailer Wellcome Taiwan from Asia’s Dairy Farm , making it the number two player in Taiwan’s convenience stores market.

The transaction, with an enterprise value of 97 million euros ($108.00 million), covers the purchase of 224 stores as well as a warehouse and is expected to close by the end of the year, the statement said.

Wellcome Taiwan posted net sales of around 390 million euros in 2019.

Carrefour, which currently operates 137 stores in Taiwan, including 69 convenience stores under the Market banner, is the country’s fifth largest retailer. PX Mart is the largest convenience store operator.

Carrefour posted net sales in Taiwan of nearly 2 billion euros, EBITDA of 209 million euros and recurring operating income of 83 million euros in 2019.

While it expands in Taiwan, Carrefour is retreating from the highly competitive Chinese market where, last year, it sold 80% of its loss-making operations to electronics retailer Suning.com.

($1 = 0.8981 euros)

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Kim Coghill and Carmel Crimmins)