The stores are located in the autonomous regions of Madrid, Aragón, Asturias, Castilla y León, Galicia, Cantabria, Navarra and the Basque Country, together with a warehouse in Villanubla (Valladolid), covering a retail area of some 180,000 m2.

The transaction is limited to supermarkets with an average size of around 760 m2 that have an attractive location but no longer fit with Grupo Dia’s current strategy, which is focused on proximity/neighbourhood stores.

Grupo Dia CEO, Stephan DuCharme, said: ‘Proximity is our beacon and has been our great lever of success. It has been in our DNA since our first store was born in Madrid in 1979. We are confident that by focusing our efforts on what we know how to do well, we will be able to continue to make progress in fulfilling our strategic roadmap.’

For his part, Ricardo Álvarez, CEO of Dia España commented: ‘At Dia España we are focused on a single proximity format and a unified store model. This transaction allows us to move faster on the objective of completing the remodelling of our current network and accelerate the pace of store openings, generating opportunities for all our employees, franchisees and suppliers, allowing us to be even closer to our customers.’

Yves Claude, Chairman and CEO of Auchan Retail, said: "With this transaction, Auchan Retail is significantly strengthening its presence in a country that is strategic for our business.

This acquisition will enable Alcampo, the Spanish subsidiary of France’s Auchan Retail, top accelerate its development in Spain, thanks to the perfect complementarity with its existing stores.

After this transaction, Alcampo will operate 540 stores in Spain, in 16 Autonomous Communities and with more than 23,000 employees.

The portfolio will be transferred as soon as the approvals are received from the competition authorities.

The operation will be carried out by blocks of stores grouped together on different dates and all transfers are expected to be completed by mid-2023.