Sligro Food Group is taking over nine Metro wholesalers (Antwerp South, Wevelgem, Liège, Hasselt, Middelkerke, Namur, Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Brussels and Vorst) and around a hundred employees from the regional network and head office. In addition, staff from the Antwerp North outlet, which will not be taken over, will be offered a job at the nearby Sligro-ISPC outlet in Antwerp. The outlet in Evergem and the staff working there will be transferred to food service market wholesaler Van Zon. In this combination, 506 Metro employees are being offered job continuity and stability.
An amount of €47 million is being paid for the outlets Sligro Food Group is acquiring, which includes the Liège site property. On the day before the Metro activities are transferred to Sligro Food Group, the value of the remaining inventories and the available cash will be determined. The current inventories will be acquired at 75% of the net procurement value and the cash at the nominal value.
This transaction requires the approval of the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA). The BCA has already invested a great deal of time and energy in investigating the market consequences during the course of the court-supervised restructuring. On the basis of its investigation, the BCA has issued an ‘unconditional decision to grant an exemption’, which means that this transaction can go ahead immediately. The BCA will formally complete its investigation in the near future; at this time no significant obstacles are expected to emerge from this investigation.
Veghel, 7 December 2022
On behalf of Sligro Food Group N.V.
Koen Slippens, CEO
Rob van der Sluijs, CFO