By Ruth Bender and Christina Passariello
PARIS--France's Moulin family, owner of upmarket store Galeries
Lafayette, is moving down the food chain.
The Moulins said Monday that they have bought a 6.1% interest in
Carrefour SA, the world's biggest retailer after Wal-Mart Stores
Inc., through Motier Holding, their family investment vehicle.
The stake, worth EUR1.28 billion ($1.76 billion) based on
Carrefour's closing share price of EUR29.16 Monday, makes the
Moulins the third-largest shareholders in the supermarket chain
behind private equity group Colony Capital LLC and the holding
company of French businessman Bernard Arnault.
The firm said the investment in the French retailer is for the
long term and "reflects its confidence in Carrefour's growth
potential."
Motier bought the stake on the open market, a person familiar
with the matter said.
Motier has a history in retailing: it was a partial owner of
supermarket chain Monoprix for many years.
Galeries Lafayette sold its stake in Monoprix two years ago to
Groupe Casino, Carrefour's main French rival.
A spokeswoman Carrefour declined to comment on the change in its
shareholder structure.
Write to Ruth Bender at Ruth.Bender@wsj.com and Christina
Passariello at christina.passariello@wsj.com
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