Estonia, Good for Business, Markets and Companies, Mergers and take-overs, Retail

The transaction shall be completed after obtaining the necessary permissions from the Competition Authority and performing other additional procedures, Tallinna Kaubamaja Grupp told the stock exchange.

"This marks the fulfillment of one of the long-term strategic goals of Tallinna Kaubamaja Grupp, which was to expand activities in the field of supermarkets. Over the years, we have organically increased Selver's store network and market share, while actively seeking an opportunity for a faster development leap," Raul Puusepp, chairman of the management board of Tallinna Kaubamaja Grupp, said.

Chairman of the supervisory board of ABC Grupi AS Mart Vips said that, considering the small size of Estonia, a food trade company needs sufficient strength to ensure a good selection of goods for the customer at a reasonable price. "Interest in our retail chain has been considerable in recent years, but we have only now reached a satisfactory result in terms of both the future owner and the conditions with Selver," Vips added.

The transaction shall add 16 Comarket stores in Harju, Parnu and Tartu counties, two Delice stores in Viimsi and the city of Parnu and the grocery store in Tallinn's Solaris shopping mall to the Selver chain. After the approval of the transaction by the Competition Authority, Selver will have 72 stores instead of the current 53.

Andrus Pold will continue as head of ABC Supermarkets. The abovementioned stores of ABC Supermarkets AS will initially proceed to operate under their existing name and brand as full subsidiaries of Selver AS. 

ABC Supermarkets was founded in 2002, when the company bought 10 stores operating under the SPAR trademark. In 2003, the transition of the stores under the Comarket trademark was launched. The new brand of ABC Supermarkets, Delice, grew out of the example of the grocery store opened in the Solaris shopping center in 2009. Together with the Delice stores, the chain has 19 stores with a sales area of 12,300 square meters. ABS Supermarkets employs approximately 400 people and sales revenue totaled 57.4 million euros in 2018.

After the transaction, the current sole shareholder of ABC Supermarkets AS, ABC Grupi AS, will focus on the sale and maintenance of cars and the wholesale of food and consumer goods.

Selver AS, a subsidiary of Tallinna Kaubamaja Grupp AS, is an Estonian chain of super- and hypermarkets, selling mainly groceries and basic consumer goods. The chain of Selver supermarkets was established in 1995 and as of today the chain consists of 53 shops with a sales area of 101,000 square meters. The chain also has an online store, e-Selver, with the largest service area in Estonia. Selver employs approximately 3,000 people and sales revenue totaled 469.4 mln euros in 2019.