With Casino onboard, GPA was able to implement their strong culture in multiple acquisitions, turning around smaller chains into regional big players. Operational efficiency and counter-cyclical bets turned GPA into a colossus local chain, intriguing the french to buy a minority stake in 1999.
One of the incursions of the group in Latin America was through Grupo Pão de Açúcar (GPA), the biggest Grocery & Consumer Electronics chain in Brazil led by Abilio Diniz. But, as we all know, the dynamism of the region dissuaded in 2014 until today, putting criticism about Casino’s wrong capital allocation and overleverage that almost dethroned the founder and chairman Jean-Charles Naouri, an ex-investment banker who made a fortune with LBOs, deep knowledge of corporate-law and operational turnarounds in french food retail chains like Rallye, Promodès and Monoprix. Near the top of the optimism with Emerging Markets, BRICS overhype two decades ago, French group Casino bought multiple controlling stakes in local LatAm Grocery Stores, Cash & Carry and Consumer Electronics chains, aiming to operate the synergies and ride the economic growth the region would experience.
