The Swedish retail group ICA Gruppen is selling Rimi, a Baltic retail chain, to Denmark’s largest retailer Salling Group.
The Swedish company said on Wednesday that the value of Rimi’s retail business in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is around 1.3 billion euros.
According to ICA Gruppen, the Danish company will take over 0.5 billion euros of Rimi Baltic’s debt, which is mainly made up of lease liabilities. The transaction will increase the company’s capital by 0.63 billion euros and generate cash inflows of 0.81 billion.
According to the Danish group, the acquisition of Rimi is the largest transaction in the company’s history. It will now own 2,100 supermarkets in the Baltic states, Denmark, Germany and Poland.
The company plans to invest in the expansion of Rimi stores and strengthen the retailer’s market position.
“We aim to strengthen the position of the second largest market player in the Baltics,” said Anders Hagh, CEO of Salling Group, in a statement.
ICA Gruppen CEO Nina Jonsson said the deal would benefit both the seller and Rimi Baltic.
“We are proud of Rimi Baltic’s strong performance and of our 28-year history together. We are now selling a strong and stable business,” Jonsson said in a statement.
According to the company, the transaction will free up funds to invest in its Swedish businesses and expand its offering to Swedish customers.
The transaction was first reported in Lithuania by the business daily Verslo Žinios.
Rimi Baltic operates 314 supermarkets in the Baltics and employs 11,000 people.
ICA Gruppen took full control of Rimi Baltic in 2007 when it acquired the chain from the Finnish company Kesko Food.
In 2016, ICA Gruppen also sought to acquire Palink, which operates the Iki supermarket chain, for 213 million euros but was prevented from completing the transaction by the Competition Council in 2018.
The Danish Salling group operates large retail chains in Denmark, Germany and Poland.
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