August 1, 2014 - Albert today announced that it has successfully completed its acquisition of SPAR’s business in the Czech Republic.
The agreement to acquire the business was announced by Ahold, Albert’s Dutch parent company, on March 11, 2014. This step is part of Ahold’s strategy to expand its reach to obtain a leading market position in the Czech Republic. The integration starts today, and is expected to be finalized in the course of 2015.
“I would like to welcome the new associates to our company and look forward to working together to create an even better shopping experience for our customers. We are proud that we are able to further grow our business, which will also benefit our business partners, including many local suppliers. Combining the best of SPAR and Albert, two businesses that have a natural fit, enables us to be a company with a promising future in the Czech Republic,” says Albert’s CEO Jesper Lauridsen.
“We plan to rebrand the stores to our Albert brand; however, we will maintain all the strong attributes that both SPAR and Albert offer customers today. We will carefully consider how to incorporate SPAR’s most compelling features into our existing Albert stores, so that we can truly offer the best of both,” commented Jesper Lauridsen on the future of the new Albert brand.
Albert will operate around 330 stores across the Czech Republic with more than 17,500 associates. The acquisition will make Albert the leading brand in the Czech food retail market, serving around 640,000 customers every day.
