Cencosud Agrees to Buy St. Marche Supermarkets

Overview

• Cencosud announced an agreement to acquire 100% of St. Marche's operations on Wednesday, June 24, and St. Marche filed for judicial recovery at the Tribunal de Justiça de São Paulo the same day.
• The purchase covers 32 stores, the Empório Santa María units and a 7,500 square meter distribution center, and the transaction value has not been disclosed.
• St. Marche is deeply distressed with roughly R$530–532 million in process-related liabilities, a R$188 million net loss in 2025, accumulated losses near R$875 million and negative equity of about R$728 million at year-end 2025.
• Cencosud says it will not assume St. Marche's financial debt and will fund the deal by reallocating capital from recent sales of Brazilian assets, but closing depends on judicial approval of the recovery plan and clearance by Brazil's competition authority CADE.
• If the court and CADE approve the plan, Cencosud's takeover could keep stores open under new ownership while creditor recoveries and the fate of existing lenders such as BTG Pactual remain subject to the judicial restructuring process.