Dia in Argentina having the stores bought from Walmart

After just over a month since it acquired a dozen stores located in Buenos Aires (Argentina) to the US multinational Walmart, the Spanish chain of supermarkets DIA has opened the first of these supermarkets, which will happen the rest of openings as throughout the month of October. 

The transaction, communicated at the end of August by Walmart, responds to DIA's objective of growing in the proximity business in the Patagonian country since the package of establishments acquired is part of this format.

Specifically, the chain was made with six stores of the 'Walmart Supermarket' line, with an average area of ​​650 m², and another six under the 'Changomás Express' logo, whose sales room is around 250 m² in average. As DIA has confirmed to Alimarket, the larger establishments will be converted to the 'Maxi Ahorro' banner, the Argentine equivalent of the Spanish 'Dia Maxi', while the other six will start to show the 'Dia Market' logo.

Close to a thousand stores

With this operation, whose amount has not been disclosed but the local media figures in the environment of 1 M $, DIA reaches 400 stores in the city of Buenos Aires and approaches one thousand establishments throughout the country. Specifically, it has 964 points of sale in the Argentine market, in which it plans to reach, according to its 2017 report, the 1,100 stores on the horizon of 2020. 

As of June 30, 2018, the company had 952 supermarkets in the country, distributed among 650 franchises and 302 of its own, which represents a total of 67 establishments more than in the same period of the previous year. This commercial fabric entailed, on the indicated date, a sales room of 251,300 m2, compared to the 238,700 m2 it managed in the previous period.

This expansion contrasts with the results of the chain in the country. As announced in the presentation of results of the first semester Ricardo Currás, CEO of DIA until last August, "Argentina has experienced a large depreciation of the currency in the second quarter of 2018. In this context, our business is strengthened every day, gaining market share and operating profit growth. 

"In this sense, gross sales in local currency grew by 22.9% in the first half of the year, with a growth of 23.5% in the second quarter of the exercise, driven, according to the company "by inflation in food during the second quarter, while the contribution derived from new space remains at intermediate rates of one digit ". In euros, net sales stood at 563.1 M € at the end of the first half, 19.7% below the 701.3 M obtained in the first six months of 2017. 

Changes in shareholders

In another vein, in recent days, various changes have been made to the shareholder of the listed group, as recorded in the records of the Securities Market Commission (CNMV). Thus, the Letter one Investment fund, in which the Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman participates, has raised its stake to 29%, which places Fridman on the edge of the OPA, since, according to current market legislation, an OPA for 100% of the company when the shareholding is at 30%.

This possibility of OPA has triggered, in turn, new movements of the investment funds present in the capital of the listed company. On the one hand, the US investment bank Goldman Sachs has raised its stake to 15.79% of the capital.

This package is divided between 1.51% indirect participation (9.42 M shares) and 14.27% through financial instruments. In turn, the Norwegian Bank Norges Bank has increased its stake in the company from 4.92% to 5.28%. Likewise, it distributes its percentage between 2.73% directly (17 M shares) and 2.54% through financial instruments.