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Carrefour shops in Belgium
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July 25, 2000: 6:04 a.m. ET
French hypermarket chain bags final 72.5% of retailer GB for $625M cash
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LONDON (CNNfn) - French hypermarket and merchandise chain Carrefour SA agreed Tuesday to buy the shares of Belgian food retailer GB that it doesn't already own for  670 million ($625.2 million) in cash.
Carrefour said it would pay for the outstanding 72.5 percent stake for GB, a subsidiary of GIB Group, with an initial payment of 201 million, handing over the rest in July 2001.
Trading in shares of GIB was halted Tuesday at the previous day's closing price of 39 per share in Brussels. Carrefour (PCA), one of stocks in the blue-chip CAC 40 index in Paris, rose 0.5, or 0.7 percent, to 76.65.
In Belgium, GB operates 60 Maxi GB and Bigg's Continent hypermarkets, which sell a broad range of merchandise and groceries, and controls 73 GB supermarkets and 350 franchised stores under brands such as Super GB Partner, Contact GB, Unic and Nopri. 
The purchase will allow the acquisitive Carrefour, already the leading retailer in France, Greece and Spain, to become the top supermarket chain in Belgium. GB is expected to have sales of about 3.7 billion in 2000.
The deal requires approval from Europe's competition authorities. Most of the GB hypermarkets are expected to take on the Carrefour name.
Other than its GB chain, GIB owns a majority stake in the fast-food chain Quick Restaurants, hardware and specialty retailing chains and a real estate unit. GIB said it was exploring its options about increasing shareholder value. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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Carrefour
GIB Group
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