Montreal-based grocery and pharmacy chain Metro Inc. has signed a deal to buy Les Supermarches GP, an eastern Quebec supermarket chain, for an undisclosed sum.
GP, which businessman Germain Pelletier launched in 1958 in Mont-Joli as Les Marches GP, now operates 15 supermarkets in Quebec City and the province’s east, including seven GP stores, four Metro GP stores and five Metro Plus GP stores, with combined annual sales of over $300 million.
Metro operates almost 600 grocery stores and about 250 pharmacies in Quebec and Ontario including such banners as Metro, Metro Plus, A+P, Super C, Food Basics, Brunet, Clini Plus, Drug Basics and The Pharmacy. The company posts annual sales of almost $11 billion.
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“Metro’s partnership with GP dates back over 40 years,” Groupe GP CEO Guy Pelletier said in a Metro release Monday.
“We feel that Metro’s steady growth and solid track record make it the best choice to maintain our stores’ growth and development.”
The deal is expected to close in late September, subject to “the usual conditions” and regulatory approval, the two companies said.
Groupe GP said it will then focus its energy on its real estate business, a portfolio of over $130 million in assets such as shopping centres, office buildings, warehouses and over 170 acres for “future development” in Quebec City and eastern Quebec.
