05/04/2020 - 19:36
- Clarín.com
- Economy
- Economy
When Agustín Beccar Varela left his position as general manager at Walmart , after 14 years with the famous American chain and landed to transform Mastercard in the southern cone, in the supermarket business they suspected what transpired soon after. That is, the decision to sell or find a partner by the company that has been with us since 1995. Walmart started with the opening of its first store in Avellaneda and is currently one of the main private employers, with more than 10,500 people in 92 stores, of which 29 operate under the Walmart brand, 61 are Changomas and two are wholesalers with the name of Wholesale Point. The chain is distributed in21 provinces and in the City of Buenos Aires.
The truth is that without being able to pay dividends to what was added to the drop in sales , they encouraged the shareholders of the chain who sit in Bentonville, United States, to offer it. Citibank was given the mandate. Yesterday it was learned that Coto ruled out that possibility at a time when he thinks more about consolidating the business and expanding his online sales that had exponential growth with the quarantine.
French Carrefour was never offered. This firm, which was able to turn its operating red, is now also facing lower sales and higher operating costs. Those who are still in the race are Francisco de Narvaez who would seek to replicate the experience of Ta-Ta and Multiahorro in Uruguay in Argentina.
And also the Inverlat fund , the owners of Havanna. This fund has just dropped the intention to buy from Garbarino. Inverlat has Carlos Giovanelli, Damián Pozzoli and Guillermo Stanley as partners. The firm manages capital for more than US $ 1 billion and its portfolio of companies also includes Fenoglio, GNC Aspro and Reef.
Near Walmart they emphasize that it is a healthy company. Beccar Varela was succeeded by CEO Dolores Fernández Lobbe, the first woman to reach that position in Argentina.
The operation in Argentina is part of a process of redefining its international investment portfolio that also includes the search for a partner or buyer for its English subsidiary.
Walmart has already advanced with this model in Brazil, where two years ago it reached an agreement to divest most of its shares from its subsidiary at the hands of the investment fund Advent, La Nación newspaper reported days ago.
In Brazil, the operation included the change of the Walmart brand, which in that market has already been replaced by Big.
Two years ago, Walmart closed the hypermarket it had at the DOT shopping and divested itself of a dozen stores at the hands of its competitor, Día. Today, according to the local operation, it is profitable and with a positive operating result of US $ 25 million annually and would not carry debts. Walmart currently controls 12% of the supermarket business and is fourth in the ranking behind Carrefour, Coto and Cencosud (Jumbo / Disco / VEA).
