Interdis and Conad to form alliance in Italy

Italian groups Interdis and Conad decided to join forces and create the second largest multi-format retail group in Italy.

It was an old rumour but confirmation of the alliance came yesterday to Italian media. Interdis, a €7bn buying group who’s members run multi-format stores all over the country, will create an alliance with Italian retailer Conad. The latter is also a founding member of the European purchasing alliance Coopernic.

Interdis is an association of independent, mostly medium-sized food retailers and wholesalers from all over Italy. Key business areas of Interdis include international buying for the group to be able to negotiate low prices. The 38 members of Interdis run around 3,800 outlets including supermarkets, hypermarkets and cash & carries with a 7 per cent market share in Italy.

Conad is the largest cooperative of independent entrepreneurs in Italy, whose approximately 3,000 retail outlets represent a market share of almost 10 per cent. Conad owns 60 per cent of Conalec, its Italian joint venture with French group Leclerc. Rewe Italia, the Italian subsidiary of German retailer Rewe, is also Conad’s partner after an agreement signed on December 2004.