Mike Duke, Vice Chairman of Wal-Mart Stores Inc, and head of Wal-Mart International, announced that the company has made an additional investment in Central American Retail Holding Company (CARHCO), bringing its share of the firm to 51 percent.
CARHCO is Central America's leading retailer, with 375 supermarkets and other stores in the following five countries: Guatemala (124), El Salvador (58), Honduras (35), Nicaragua (33) and Costa Rica (125). CARHCO has approx. 23,000 associates and sales during 2005 were approx. $2.2 billion.
In September 2005, Wal-Mart acquired the 33 1/3 percent interest in CARHCO owned by Dutch retailer Royal Ahold NV. CARHCO was formed as a joint venture in 2001 with three equal partners: Ahold and two Central American groups: the Paiz family, the major shareholders of La Fragua, with headquarters in Guatemala, and Corporacion de Supermercados Unidos (CSU), with headquarters in Costa Rica.
"This additional investment demonstrates our confidence in the partnership and in the future of this business in Central America," Duke said.
"We also want to emphasize that CARHCO's strong relationships with suppliers throughout Central America will be strengthened in the future by Wal-Mart Central America," Duke added.
Rodrigo Uribe, whose family founded Corporacion de Supermercados Unidos, S.A., one of the original CARHCO partners, will be Chairman of Wal-Mart Central America's board of directors. Vice Chairman will be Fernando Paiz, whose family founded La Fragua, S.A., also a CARHCO partner.
marketing@alchempro.com
