Carrefour and Fnac-Darty announced on 1 December that from 2018 they will pool - for now - all purchases of electronic devices and household appliances and this agreement, according to Oddo BHF Asset Management of BHF Bank, is expected to arrive later to a probable merger. In reality, these rumors from the Franco-German financial circles (let's not forget that in July Ceconomic-Mediamarkt, the consumer electronics division of Metro AG, acquired control of 24,33% of Fnac-Darty) have been going on for several months. For two reasons: because competitors Casino and Auchan have already entered into joint purchasing agreements with Conforama and Boulanger, respectively. And then because shortly before the acquisition by the German giant of control of Fnac-Darty there was an exchange of managers at the top of the French distribution groups, revealing future changes.
Today in charge of Carrefour is in fact Alexandre Bompard who has just resigned from Fnac-Darty. And in place of Bompard here comes Enrique Martinez, in command of Fnac-Darty. When the German and French journalists had asked the bosses of Ceconomic for some more information on the acquisition of Fnac-Darty, they had heard this sentence hissed. "It's just a financial transaction." A few months later here is the denial. Other than a financial operation, it asserts itself in Frankfurt and Paris. A true march of slow but inevitable approach to a concentration that all suppliers fear greatly.
From blog by Paola Guidi
