IKI and Coopernic

REWE Group participates through the strategic alliance Coopernic in IKI. Coopernic is as an alliance between the five independent trading companies Colruyt (Belgium), Conad (Italy), Coop (Switzerland), E.Leclerc (France) and REWE Group. With Coopernic the partners have established an alliance to face up to the growing challenges of competition in Europe and the internationalisation of the retail trade.

In November 2007 the alliance partners of Coopernic acquired for the first time a European company by taking over a majority stake of 80 per cent in the Lithuanian Palink UAB-Group, which runs stores under the name IKI.

Its sales of Euro 507 million make IKI the number Two in the Lithuanian supermarket segment and the number Three in the Baltic states. In June 2005, IKI expanded to Latvia and opened its first store in Riga, the capital. Actually IKI runs 55 points of sale in Latvia, generating a turnover of Euro 103 million. Marcel Haraszti is the company manager. He previously worked for Billa in the Ukraine and in Romania.