Leader Price overview

Leader Price’s revenue over the years

Name Leader Price
2015A – 2019A, EUR mn

Establishment 1989 in Paris, France

2577
100% owned Groupe Casino (took over in 1997) with additional
Ownership franchised stores 2536
2526

Business description Discount store chain 2486

Logo
2400

Store count 656 as of 2019

Market share of French food retail players

2017A – 1H2020A, EUR mn
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019*

E.Leclerc * According to Reuters, 2019 revenue of Leader Price was EUR2,400mn. However, Casino’s report indicates that
9M2019 revenue was only EUR1,622mn (we observed that seasonality is typically very low)
13.6% Intermarche Source: Deustchbank, Reuters, Groupe Casino FS
6.0%
21.4%
Carrefour Hypers Leader Price’s store count over the years
2017A – 1H2020A
10.3% Carrefour Supers
13.9%
2019 Geant
7.8%

Groupe Casino’s brand

810 796 777
9.9% Casino Supers 726
2.0% 7.3% 657
1.9% Franprix
2.6%
1.5% 1.8% Monoprix

Leader Price 383 377 394

325
4.9% 14.7% Auchan 263
20.2%
Systeme U
9.8%
13.3% Lidl
2015
8.2%
10.9% Others 2015 2016 2017 2018 Sep 2019

2.5% 7.5% * Previously, Leader Price was consolidated into Groupe Casino’s FS. Following the sales of Leader Price in 2020,
2.0% Groupe Casino began to deconsolidate and report certain items related to Leader Price in its FS
1.6% 1.8% 2.6% Source: Kantar France, JP Morgan Source: Groupe Casino FS
Transaction overview

Assets 567 Leader Price stores (out of 656 total) and 3 distribution centers (1) Enterprise Value (1) EUR 735 mn

Seller Groupe Casino (2) Estimated 2019 Sales EUR 2,400 mn

Buyer Aldi Implied EV/Sales 0.31x

Announced date 20 Mar 2020 (3) Estimated EV/Store (2) EUR 1.3 mn

Deal status Binding offer signed; currently subjected to antitrust clearance

According to the Company, “Casino Group will remain the owner of the Leader Price brand in order to continue to
(1)
Includes an earn out of EUR 35 million which will be paid in the event of compliance with operational indicators
(1)

operate it under certain conditions agreed with Aldi, in France and internationally”. According to Reuters, unsold stores during a transition period
will be operated as Casino’s franchises. Casino also needs to stay being the brand owner to continue producing Leader
Price-branded food products and distribute them within its own network Assuming that a distribution center counts as a store since we do not have a reliable valuation for the 3 distribution
(2)

centers sold
Leader Price was recorded in a group named “Franprix – Leader Price” in Casino’s FS. We believe that the offered
(2)

assets were 100% owned by Groupe Casino (remaining are franchised stores) Also, it is likely that the sold assets included franchised stores, thus the estimated EV/Store would be more carefully
analyzed should we have more information
The deal was first mentioned in Sep 2019, at which time Casino and Aldi were entering into negotiation for a binding
(3)

offer. The offer was signed in Mar 2020 and is currently under antitrust clearance
Source: Groupe Casino, Reuters Source: Groupe Casino, Reuters

Buyer overview Supplementary images

Aldi’s stores (small format and prioritizes cutting costs)

Name Aldi

Establishment 1946 in Essen, Germany

Business description Discount store chain

Brands
Leader Price’s stores (small format, more SKUs, not as price competitive)
Estimated revenue USD 88 bn in 2017

Store count Over 10,000 in 18 countries as of 2017

Source: Aldi, Retail Leader Source: Alda and Leader Price