Salling Group has reached an agreement with UK retailer Tesco to take over its Polish activities. As part of the deal, Salling Group acquires 301 stores and two distribution centers. In connection with the acquisition, approximately 7,000 employees from Tesco Poland will become part of Salling Group's organization. Thus, Salling Group will collectively employ approx. 60,000 employees in Denmark, Germany, and Poland.

Poland is already Salling Group's largest growth market, and with the acquisition the Group is fulfilling a strategically important ambition. Considerable online growth, together with expansion in Poland, are the cornerstones of Salling Group's strategy.

- I am very pleased with the deal as we are consolidating Netto's presence in a growing market and delivering on our Group strategy. With the acquisition of Tesco Poland we are doubling our business in Poland and will become a significant retailer in one of Europe's largest markets, says Per Bank, CEO of Salling Group, and continues:

- The foundation for us to make such a large and strategically important acquisition is our ability to run a sound and solid business. COVID-19 has naturally created uncertainty, but our strong business enables us to act when the right opportunities arise.

Salling Group is currently operating 386 Netto stores in Poland, and Tesco's strong presence, not least in southern Poland, makes the two businesses a great match. Salling Group will convert the Tesco stores to Netto's new concept as soon as possible following approval of the deal.

- We are looking forward to working with our new colleagues and the Polish customers can look forward to modernized stores and attractive shopping experiences. We look forward to building a unified team across the two companies and plan to spend more than PLN 1 billion to convert the current Tesco stores, Per Bank says.

The company is being traded at an Enterprise Value of PLN 900 million, corresponding to approximately DKK 1.5 billion. The deal is subject to the approval of the competition authorities, which is expected before the end of the year.

Netto Poland opened its first store in Szczecin in 1995 and today has over 5000 employees. In total, before the acquisition, Salling Group employs more than 53,000 employees in Germany, Denmark, and Poland and operates more than 1,400 stores, encompassing discount stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and department stores, as well as a strong online business in Denmark.


Netto Polska:
biuro.prasowe@netto.pl

Salling Group:
press@sallinggroup.com