The Swiss group Coop buys GM Food, the former Miquel Alimentació

The grand declarations of intent made by the Chinese group Bright Food in October 2015, when it closed the purchase of the former Miquel Alimentació, have amounted to almost nothing. The Asian state-owned company, which at that time had a turnover of more than 18,000 million euros, explained that its intention was to convert the Catalan distribution company "into a large platform for exporting Spanish food products to China." It was also said that the successful cash & carry model developed by the Girona-based group, that is, the formerly named Gros Mercat centers, would be exported to China with the creation of a powerful network of stores throughout the country. "Our company was already international and now it will be global; today is a historic day," emphasized the group's previous owner, businessman Ramon Miquel.

Little more than five years later, Bright Food has decided to divest from the current GM Food and has sold the Vilamalla-based company to the Swiss cooperative group Coop, which with this operation enters the competitive Spanish large-scale distribution market. Although it created a subsidiary based in Shanghai, MIC Food Trading, under the Chinese umbrella, GM Food has not managed to significantly increase its size nor has it grown through acquisitions, another scenario it had on the table. In 2015, the Girona-based company had a turnover of 900 million euros and now earns "more than a thousand," according to the official statement it distributed to announce the change of ownership.

And who is Coop? If you have been to Switzerland, you surely know the company, as it is one of the country's leading supermarket chains, with a 150-year history and owned by 2.5 million cooperative members. With a turnover of more than 27,000 million euros, Coop also operates in the wholesale sector and services for the hospitality industry through Transgourmet, which is the company that has closed the purchase of GM Food. Based in Basel, Transgourmet operates in Switzerland, Germany, France, Austria, Poland, Romania, and Russia. It has 28,000 employees, with revenues exceeding 7,000 million euros.

With the purchase of GM Food, this Swiss wholesale company enters Spain, "one of the largest gastronomic markets in Europe," with the challenge "of expanding its position as one of the leaders in the European market for wholesale distribution and wholesale self-service," both for hospitality professionals and for owners of small businesses. Some financial sources consulted by Expansión place the valuation of the sale at 200 million euros.

GM Food, which is the main company in the Girona regions, owns 70 cash & carry centers, and is one of the main groups specialized in wholesale sales, in competition with the also Catalan Covalco or the German Makro. The company, which will soon celebrate its centenary, supplies all kinds of products to more than 2,500 independent stores and also to a network of 800 small and medium-sized supermarkets that operate under the brands Suma, Proxim and Spar. The former family group has 2,400 employees and is led by Lluís Labairu, who replaced Pere Laymon at the end of 2019.

"I am convinced that this new stage we are beginning will lead us to greater knowledge and success and will allow GM Food to consolidate itself as a benchmark in food distribution in Spain with the support of the Transgourmet Group," said Labairu, who no longer speaks of megalomaniac plans for growth abroad, but of "consolidating in Spain."