Carrefour CEO Gets Ultimatum From Shareholders
For investors who have been patiently marking time hoping that France's Carrefour SA, the world's second-largest retailer behind Wal-Mart Stores Inc., can turn itself around, the wait may soon be over. The next six months could see big changes.
According to people familiar with the matter, at least some of the five families that are among Carrefour's biggest shareholders have given Daniel Bernard, Carrefour's chief executive, an end-of-year deadline: Deliver evidence of a meaningful turnaround or it is au revoir.
Indeed, the recent appointment to the board of Luc Vandevelde has prompted some to think that the 53-year-old former CEO of United Kingdom retailer Marks & Spencer PLC is Carrefour's CEO-in-waiting. A Carrefour spokesman, who said that Mr. Bernard, 58, was unavailable to comment, added that he was unaware of any end-of-year deadline.
Furthermore, in recent weeks, there has been renewed speculation that Carrefour may be in the sights of the only retailer that is bigger by revenue: Wal-Mart, of Bentonville, Ark., which has expanded in Europe in recent years.
At the moment, the two aren't talking about a deal. The Carrefour spokesman said the company hasn't been approached by any company interested in a takeover, nor has it approached any other company to talk about a sale. A spokesman for Wal-Mart declined to comment.
Bargain Hunters. A shopper at a Carrefour hyperstore in eastern France (top) and a Wal-Mart shopper in Missouri.
But the U.S. retailer recently signaled that it would like to start expanding more aggressively in Europe. Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott met with European Union antitrust chief Mario Monti in May for what both Wal-Mart and EU officials described as part of a fact-finding mission, though the discussions steered clear of any specific takeover targets.
Wal-Mart entered Europe in 1997 with an acquisition in Germany, and its experience there has been patchy. But it has had more success in the U.K., where it bought supermarket chain Asda in 1999.
Some Carrefour shareholders aren't holding out hope for a takeover by Wal-Mart, in part because they fear such a move would stand in the way of the French government's desire to build up "national champions" able to compete globally with U.S. and other rivals.
The French government recently played a significant role in bringing together Sanofi-Synthelabo SA, a French pharmaceuticals company and Franco-German rival Aventis SA in a merger.
Investors "have to pay careful attention to what the French government would want to happen," says Damien Meade, vice president of European equity research at Pioneer Investment Management Ltd. in Dublin that owned about 400,000 Carrefour shares as of 30 days ago, according to the firm.
But the French government may find a Wal-Mart approach to Carrefour harder to meddle with because there isn't an obvious French alternative bidder. Carrefour's national rivals are too small to pull off a takeover of the giant retailer.
Some analysts say Carrefour would be a particularly good strategic fit for Wal-Mart. "If you overlay the operating territories of Carrefour and Wal-Mart, they would fit together like a jigsaw puzzle," said Bill Dreher, retail analyst with Deutsche Bank. Carrefour would provide Wal-Mart entry into France. It also would make it among the biggest retailers in Argentina and Brazil, and double its presence to over 70 stores in China.
But one issue for Wal-Mart is whether it has the managerial breadth to undertake such a large acquisition, requiring it to integrate Carrefour's significant holdings in myriad countries.
"Right now, we are undertaking three integrations-in Japan, Brazil, and Puerto Rico-and are stretched" after recent acquisitions in those countries, said one Wal-Mart executive.
Meanwhile, there are signs that the major families which together own about 19% of Carrefour shares and just below 30% of the voting rights may be getting impatient.
After all, Carrefour's shares have declined about 5% in the past 12 months, while France's benchmark CAC-40 index has risen about 25% during the same time. In Paris trading, Carrefour shares were little-changed yesterday, closing at �39.20 ($48.18).
The five families had a five-year pact that expires Aug. 29 in which they pledged not to sell shares without consulting the other members of the pact.
That pact hasn't been renewed. In its place is a largely symbolic agreement signed by only two of the biggest shareholding families, the Halley and March groups, and Mr. Bernard, who himself owns less than 1% of Carrefour. The Spanish March family founded Carrefour Spain with Carrefour in the 1970s. The Halley family of France founded Promodes, which merged with Carrefour in 1999.
This new pact doesn't place restrictions on share sales, but instead makes a statement that the three parties wish to work together to make Carrefour strong for the future, according to the Carrefour spokesman.
Representatives of the Halley and March families couldn't be reached for comment. It isn't clear whether these families were involved in setting the end-of-year deadline for Mr. Bernard.
The Carrefour spokesman acknowledged that the new pact is a "symbolic action" but suggested it doesn't make Carrefour any more or less vulnerable to takeover than it was before.
"If a predator wants to buy 51% or 55% or 60% of the shares, how can a pact stop these actions?" the spokesman said. "With the old pact and with the new pact, any company in the world" can attempt a takeover.
Carrefour has been under pressure because its core business, the so-called hypermarkets -- which sell everything from food to clothing to household appliances at reasonable, though not bargain-basement, prices -- are performing poorly.
Second-quarter revenue results released yesterday underscored how important those hypermarkets are to the health of the company -- and how difficult it is proving to fix them.
Carrefour's first-half revenue in France, which comprises about half of Carrefour's overall revenue, slipped 0.6%.
Revenue at the French hypermarkets, which are about half of the French business, fell 3.6% for the first half.
Overall revenue for the period rose 3.3% to �38.6 billion from a year earlier. Carrefour said it was cutting guidance for full year overall sales growth to 5% from 6%, excluding the effects of currency changes.
Carrefour's defenders say it isn't fair to blame management for the hypermarkets' problems as they have been beset by fierce competition from lower-priced rivals in a French retail market that remains weak.
And they note that Mr. Bernard is one of the most seasoned hypermarket managers, which could make him difficult to replace.
But some investors and analysts remain concerned that, in their view, management still hasn't outlined a clear strategy for reviving this business.
"These issues aren't cleared up yet. They have been hanging over the company for a pretty long time now," says Dirk Enderlein, portfolio manager at DIT, the mutual-fund arm of Allianz Dresdner Asset Management in Germany.
He has sold out of Carrefour over the past several years but notes that the group still owns some shares.
What would it take to get him interested again? "It really depends when I see action on the management side," he said. "Sometimes it's necessary to have new people with new ideas."
家乐福首席执行长面临最后通牒
对于那些一直甘守寂寞，期待法国家乐福(Carrefour SA)扭转颓势的投资者来说，这种等待可能快要结束了。今后6个月里可能会发生很大变化。
家乐福是仅次于沃尔玛(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)的全球第二大零售商。
知情人士称，在家乐福持股最大的5个家族当中，至少有一部分股东给家乐福首席执行长贝鹤能(Daniel Bernard)下达了年底的最终期限：使公司出现切实的重大转变，要不然就拜拜吧。
实际上，最近范德维德(Luc Vandevelde)出任家乐福董事一事促使一些人猜测，这位现年53岁、前英国零售商马莎百货(Marks & Spencer PLC)的CEO就是家乐福未来CEO的人选。家乐福发言人称贝鹤能无法就此置评，并表示他未曾听说过什么年底通牒。
此外在最近几周，关于沃尔玛意欲收购家乐福的传闻再次浮出水面。近年来，沃尔玛一直在欧洲积极扩张业务。
眼下，这两家公司并没有商讨并购事宜。家乐福的发言人说，公司没有被任何有意收购的公司接洽，也没有和任何其他公司联络过股份出售一事。沃尔玛的发言人拒绝置评。
但是，沃尔玛最近暗示，它将开始更积极地在欧洲扩张。该公司首席执行长李?斯科特(Lee Scott)和欧盟反垄断委员马里奥?蒙蒂(Mario Monti)于今年5月会面，双方都将此描述为一项实地调查使命的一部分，不过此次讨论没有谈及任何具体的收购目标。
沃尔玛于1997年通过对德国一家公司的收购进入欧洲市场，但在各地区的表现一直良莠不齐。但它在英国的业务要成功得多，并于1999年收购了当地的超市连锁公司Asda。
家乐福的一些股东对沃尔玛的收购并不抱什么希望，部分原因是他们担心，此举将妨碍法国政府打造能与美国和其他对手在全球相抗衡的“全国冠军”。
最近，法国政府在法国医药公司Sanofi-Synthelabo SA与法德合资的安万特公司(Aventis SA)的并购案中发挥了重要作用。
Pioneer Investment Management Ltd.驻都柏林的欧洲股票研究业务副总裁达米安?米德(Damien Meade)称，投资者需要认真关注法国政府希望什么样的情形发生。截至一个月前，该公司持有约40万股家乐福股票。
但是，法国政府可能会发现自己很难干预沃尔玛的收购，因为很显然，在法国境内找不到一个旗鼓相当的竞标者。家乐福的国内对手都规模太小，没有能力收购这家零售巨头。
一些分析师称，对沃尔玛来说，家乐福将是一个特别适合的战略性收购对象德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)的零售业分析师比尔?多赫(Bill Dreher)说，如果将家乐福和沃尔玛的经营区域合并，它们就像是拼图玩具那样完美地契合在一起。
家乐福将会提供给沃尔玛进军法国市场的机会，还将使后者跻身阿根廷和巴西最大零售商之列，并将沃尔玛在中国的店铺数量提高到70家以上。
但是，沃尔玛面临的一个问题是，它是否有足够的管理能力来驾驭如此大规模的收购，整合家乐福在无数国家的大量资产。
沃尔玛的一位管理人士称，眼下，继在日本、巴西和波多黎各三个国家开展收购活动之后，公司正在整合这些地区的业务。
同时，有迹象显示，持有家乐福股份约19%、投票权略低于30%的主要家族股东可能变得有些不耐烦了。
毕竟，家乐福的股价在过去12个月中下跌5%左右，而法国CAC-40指数同期上涨了25%。昨日家乐福股价持平，收于39.20欧元（48.18美元）。
根据五大家族股东签署的一项5年期协议，在没有征询协议其他参与方的意见之前，他们不能出售股票。该协议定于8月29日到期。
该协议没有续签，取而代之的是只有两大控股家族哈雷(Halley)和马奇(March)签署的一项象征性协议。贝鹤能本人持有公司不到1%的股份。西班牙的March家族在上世纪70年代与家乐福共同创立了Carrefour Spain。法国的哈雷家族创建了Promodes，该公司与家乐福在1999年合并。
家乐福的发言人称，新协议没有对股份出售施加限制，而是作出声明称，三方希望齐心协力增强家乐福的竞争力。
记者未能联络到哈雷和马奇家族的代表就此发表评论。这些家族是否也为贝鹤能下了最后通牒还不得而知。
家乐福发言人承认，新协议是一个“象征性的举动”，它并没有改变家乐福容易成为收购目标的事实。
这位发言人称，如果收购方希望获得51%、55%或60%的股份，一份协议怎么能阻止这种行动呢？不管新旧协议存在与否，世界上任何一家公司都能够发起收购。
家乐福一直在遭受沉重压力，因为其核心业务──超市业务表现差强人意。
该公司昨日发布的第二季度收入数据凸显出，这些超市对公司的状况有多重要，而且要拯救它们有多困难。
家乐福法国业务上半年的收入下滑0.6%，该地区的业务占公司收入总额的一半左右。
占法国业务半数的超市业务收入上半年下降3.6%。
同期公司整体收入较上年同期增长3.3%，至386亿欧元。
家乐福称，它将把全年总体销售增长预期由6%下调至5%，其中不含汇率变动的影响。
家乐福的支持者表示，将超市的困境归咎于管理层是不公平的，因为法国零售市场依然疲软，来自低价对手的竞争日趋激烈。
此外他们称，贝鹤能是最称职的超市管理者之一，他的位置是难以替代的。
但是，一些投资者和分析师仍然担心，公司管理层尚未制定出一个重振这项业务的清晰战略。
德国Allianz Dresdner Asset Management旗下共同基金DIT的投资组合经理迪克?安德雷恩(Dirk Enderlein)称，这些问题尚未得到解决，它们已经困扰了公司相当长的时间。
他在过去的几年中曾卖出了家乐福的所有持股，但表示目前公司仍持有一些股票。
是什么让其恢复了对家乐福的投资兴趣呢？他说，这实际上取决于管理层的行动。有时让一些拥有新思路的新人加盟是必要。
