Carrefour looks to organic growth in China
Carrefour is not interested in making a major acquisition in China after Wal-Mart’s reported expansion plans, the retailer’s chief executive has said.
Carrefour could lose its top spot as China’s largest foreign retailer if U.S. giant Wal-Mart succeeds in buying Trust-Mart, which owns 100 supercentres in China.
“We asked ourselves should we keep the emphasis on organic growth or take the risk of doing a large acquisition with all the problems and challenges of integration,” Chief Executive Officer Jose Luis Duran said. “We are more interested in organic growth, and we will not deviate from that.” Carrefour aims to open at least 20 hypermarkets, which sell food along with household items such as fridges and TVs, in China this year and beyond. It will open its 84th hypermarket on Saturday, which is its 7th in Beijing and 1,000th in the world.
Duran said Carrefour had looked at buying Trust-Mart but that the company did not meet its criteria.
