LAURUS PURCHASES SPANISH FOOD RETAILER

JAMES FALLON

LONDON -- Laurus N.V., the food retailer and wholesaler based in Amersfoort, The Netherlands, has acquired the Spanish food retailer Almacenes Mar y Mar for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition was carried out by Laurus' Spanish subsidiary Grupo Unigro S.A.

Mar y Mar operates about 60 supermarkets and 10 cash-and-carry outlets serving the catering trade in southwest Spain. It is the market leader in its region with sales of more than $116.8 million (220 million Dutch guilders) a year.

Laurus said the acquisition fits in with its strategy to rapidly expand in the Spanish market. It has acquired 10 companies in Spain in the last year to grow Grupo Unigro, which operated only 300 stores at the beginning of last year.

With the latest purchase, it will have about 540 supermarkets, 60 cash-and-carry outlets and sales of more than $1.06 billion (2 billion guilders). Grupo Unigro plans to convert the Mar y Mar supermarkets to its El Arbol format.

Laurus has more than 2,700 supermarkets and cash-and-carry outlets in the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain.