Walmart aims to more penetration in remote areas with Gessa purchase

The Walmart supermarket chain aims to significantly expand its penetration in areas where it is currently less strong, such as the North Pacific, the North Zone and the Caribbean, following the announcement of the Acquisition of 52 stores The Grupo Empresarial de Supermercados SA (Gessa) operates through the Perimercados and Súper Compro formats, as well as the Saretto store.

The transaction, the price of which was not communicated because both parties agreed to reserve the figure, was presented at noon this Thursday, July 19 before the Commission for the Promotion of Competition (Coprocom), entity that must approve it or reject it.

The group of buyers currently operates in Costa Rica 250 stores, of which 163 are Pali, 40 Maxi Palí, 36 Masxmenos and 11 Walmart. With the acquisition will add more than 300 outlets, with notable strengthening especially in Guanacaste, where the Super Buy chain is very strong.

"In this case, a business opportunity arises, where we saw that we could think about the acquisition of the stores that they operate and, in this purchase, we found a great complementarity in terms of the ability to have a better presence in areas where we have not so wide today.We are talking about a very clear example of the North Pacific or Guanacaste region, "said Aquileo Sánchez, Walmart's Regional Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability

Sánchez said the 52 Gessa stores will be converted into Masxmenos, Pali or Maxi Palí brands, though 39 he said that all the details will be defined after the Coprocom defines when it approves the acquisition. He also did not want to mention whether the closing of some points of sale was being considered, although he said that he wanted to retain the majority of the current 1,300 employees in Gessa.

Yanina Montero, director of the Coprocom Technical Support Unit, explained: that the settlement provides 30 calendar days to be resolved, that is to say after the complete information is available. Indeed, after a technical study of 10 calendar days, it is possible to define that more information is requested and requested from the parties.

In addition, the technical unit may declare the complex concentration and, with it, request an extension of the other 60 calendar days to solve the problem.

Coprocom has three options when it receives the case after the technical investigation: approve the concentration, deny it or approve it under conditions, request adjustments to the parties.

Once the authorization received. For its part, Walmart will begin an integration process so that the 52 stores acquired are operated according to their standards and brands in the country, according to the characteristics of each.

Over 1,300 store employees acquired they will join the Walmart team in Costa Rica, the company announced in a statement announcing the purchase agreement for Gessa formats.

Sánche Z badured that this ongoing acquisition will not change the investment plans of Walmart in Costa Rica, so that the chain will close this year 2018 with a dozen openings, maybe less than expected, but due to procedural obstacles in Costa Rica.

He explains that between 2014 and 2018, this chain has invested about 600 million dollars in the country, including new openings of outlets.

Walmart began its presence in Costa Rica since 2005. Its most famous transaction was the purchase of the United Supermarkets Corporation (CSU).

Only in the Walmart format, the largest establishments, the chain has 11 points of sale in Costa Rica. The most recent openings took place in Liberia, Guanacaste (July 2017) and La Lima, Cartago (December 2017).

They both join the Cartago stores, on the way to Paraíso; Curridabat, San Sebastián, Guadalupe, Tibás, Escazú, Alajuela, Heredia and Desamparados

Sánchez said that he could not advance the plans regarding remodeling or changes in the acquired facilities, pending the approval of Coprocom.

Walmart claims to have 1,836 suppliers in Costa Rica and sell 350,000 different products in Central America

– Walmart is indicated as a monopoly, how will this affect the demand before Coprocom?

– They will have to do an badysis and we have full confidence that it will be a technical work, according to the law and that they will decide what is best for the whole the retail sector, but also for customers in Costa Rica and, of course, for suppliers and badociates employed by both companies. [19659005] "What I can badure you, because we can not talk about technical things, is that we have submitted an application that is supported from a technical point of view, not only in the legal underpinnings, but also in the economic foundations, a transaction that benefits the customers, the suppliers, the employees of both companies. "

– How long has the negotiation process started?

-It is necessary working months to officials and advisers of both companies

– Why is a purchase made instead of expanding with new openings?

– We have a plan to In Costa Rica, our investment figures, mainly in Costa Rica, were close to $ 600 million, and as we have seen from the government authorities, our intention was to summer to maintain this investment and store openings.

"In this case, a business opportunity arose, where we saw that we could think of acquiring the We saw a great complementarity in the ability to have a better presence in areas where we do not have it so wide today, we are talking about a very clear example like the North Pacific region or Guanacaste, where a chain has, that is to say Super Buy, has a very important presence and we do not yet have an optimal level of presence.

"What we saw was a complementary business opportunity that adds to the pace of investment for openings that in recent years have been important in the country and this will not stop being important. "

– What do you have planned for Gessa formats?

– First To be able to talk about future projects, I think the most prudent thing is to wait until the competition authority proceeds as it should, and as we have approval, we can talk with more responsibility. Geesa's employees have been informed that they are thinking about their integration and are entering into a combined and fast process for these stores to operate to Walmart standards and Walmart standards. We see essentially the potential for the brand Masxmenos, Maxi Palí and Palí

– What is the value of the acquisition?

– The agreement between the parties is that the figure will not be revealed from the transaction

Collaborated: Óscar Rodríguez and Esteban Ramírez