Geant and Leader Price get new owners

The transaction concerns only those stores located in Poland. Tesco paid EUR 105 million, Metro EUR 224 million, and GE Real Estate EUR 555 million. "According to calculations by industry experts, a chain whose annual turnover does not exceed EUR 10 billion in a given market has no chances of surviving in that market. Therefore one should expect further consolidation over the next five years, also among Polish companies," said Adam Lewiński from the Polish Chamber of Commerce (PIH). According to Beata Błażejczyk-Jacewicz, an analyst with the market research firm GfK, Tesco and Real got a good deal. "Tesco entered the discount store market, in which it was not present. It gathered over 200 outlets at once. Metro increased its supremacy over competitors and is now close to the leader among hypermarket operators, which is...Tesco," said Błażejczyk-Jacewicz. Experts believe this will lead to increasing competition and price wars, which signals bad times for producers. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6) M.M.