Wal-Mart Looks To Buy Brazil Chain From Ahold

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is working on a deal to buy the 120-store Bompreco supermarket chain in Northeastern Brazil from troubled Dutch retailer Ahold NV, the Brazillian newspaper Valor Economico reported on Nov. 26.r

A source close to Wal-Mart’s administration in Brazil told the newspaper that talks are advanced and the U.S. retailer is ready to assume control of Bompreco on Jan. 4, as long as “substantial points of the contract” can be successfully negotiated.r

As reported in August, a court order issued by a judge in the Northeastern state of Sergipe has threatened to fine Ahold if it sells its 40-store G. Barbosa chain together with Bompreco. Ahold is trying to unload both assets as part of a wider exit from Latin America in the wake of an accounting scandal that hit earlier this year.r

An antitrust body in Brazil recommended that Ahold spin off 17 of its G. Barbosa markets because of overlap with Bompreco stores, but a final decision from the country’s top antitrust body is still pending.r

Wal-Mart’s biggest competitor in the race to snap up the Ahold assets, Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao, apparently submitted a competitive bid but attached several conditions and offered less attractive payment terms.r