Delhaize Group SA, the owner of the Food Lion supermarkets, plans to buy a 16 percent stake in Serbian retailer C Market from the country’s government to raise its holding to more than 91 percent.
The Belgian retailer will pay 9.72 million euros ($13 million) for the stake, or 300 euros per share, the Serbian Privatization Agency said in an e-mailed statement today. The remaining stake in C Market belongs to the company’s employees.
Delhaize will have to offer the same price per share to employees once it decides to take full control of the Serbian company, Dusan Belanovic, a spokesman for the Privatization Agency, said in a phone interview today.
Delhaize started its expansion in the Balkan country in 2011, buying Delta Maxi Group, the country’s biggest grocery chain, for 932.5 million euros.
Source Bloomberg
