Central Group yesterday reaffirmed its interest in participating in the bid for Carrefour's local operations against rivals like Casino (owner of Big C Supercentre) and Berli Jucker (BJC). Carrefour operates about 43 hypermarkets in Thailand but plans to discontinue its operations here and elsewhere in the region.
Suthichai Chirathivat, executive chairman of Central Group, said in his first media interview on the issue that the group had allocated a "special extra budget" for the acquisition, which would be in addition to normal investment for retail expansion, set at about Bt16 billion this year.
He said that if the bid were successful, the Carrefour operations would fulfil the group's ambition of being a key operator of such multiple-retail formats.
"Operated by Central Retail Corporation, we now handle many retail formats in our portfolio. We are interested in acquiring Carrefour, as the chain will help fulfil our retail portfolio, especially in the hypermarket segment," Suthichai said.
CRC also owns a minor stake in Big C Supercentre, which operates about 68 branches in Thailand.
"It will be OK whether we win the Carrefour bid or not. If we win, the most benefit we will get is to gain higher bargaining power with suppliers in purchasing goods for the stores," Suthichai said.