Eroski Group and Les Mosquetaires bring the leading food retailer Edeka into their Alidis alliance

Alfons Frenk, Chairman of the Edeka Group: "This co-operation will enable us to improve the marketing of branded products as well as our own brands".

The Eroski Group and Les Mosquetaires have brought the Edeka Group, the leading German food retailer, into the ALIDIS (Alianza de Distribuidores Independientes de Europa) alliance, set up in 2002. The three Groups account for a total turnover of 75,000 million Euro.

In the words of Constan Dacosta, the Chairman of the Eroski Group, "the philosophies of our companies and the coincidence of our strategies form the basis of our understanding". For Michel Pattou, Chairman of Les Mosquetaires and Chairman of Alidis, "Edeka has rapidly emerged as an ideal candidate. By bringing in the German group, the alliance will be relying significantly on a very strong European axis in Germany, France and Spain".

In the opinion of Alfons Frenk, Chairman of the Edeka Group, "this co-operation will enable us to improve the marketing of branded products as well as our own brands. The synergies generated by this alliance will benefit the independent traders and consumers".

The new group will be the leading alliance of independent retailers in Europe and will have sufficient weight to take on the big integrated retailers and the big industrial groups, accounting for a total turnover of 75,000 million Euro. The three operators wanted to maintain the balance between the allies, with each taking a 33.3% capital holding in ALIDIS and the chairmanship established on a rotational basis.

With 31,570 million Euro of turnover in 2004 and 8,500 sales outlets, the Edeka Group is the market leader in food retailing in Germany with a 20.2 percent market share. This percentage will now increase with the take-over of the Spar and Netto outlets from Les Mosquetaires in Germany in the discount segment. Edeka has a workforce of 219,872 people.

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