Sodimac goes to Brazil

Sodimac, a Chilean DIY group, is moving into the DIY market in Brazil with the acquisition for BRL 388 mio of 50.1 per cent of the Dicico DIY chain, which is operated by a company called Construdecor. Dicico currently has 58 stores in the state of São Paulo, where the chain recorded sales of BRL 789 mio last year. Following two openings at the beginning of this year, Dicico intends to open eight more new stores in 2013; six of the total of ten new branches are planned as franchise stores, and four will be operated directly by the company. In the judgement of Credit Suisse, this expansion holds out attractive opportunities for growth for the Falabella Group, to which Sodimac belongs, since the Brazilian home improvement market is 5.7 times the size of the home market in Chile. At the same time the effects on the new parent company will remain relatively minor, since the Dicico turnover will add only 1.6 per cent to Falabella’s total.