The Chilean Cencosud signed an agreement to acquire 100% of St Marche, in an operation conditional on the approval of the request for judicial recovery filed by the retailer in the early hours of this Wednesday (24).
The amount of the transaction was not revealed. Negotiations between the companies had been ongoing since the fourth quarter of 2025.
With the purchase, Cencosud expands its presence in food retail aimed at the premium public in the state of São Paulo, focusing on classes A and B. In Brazil, the Chilean group already operates brands such as Prezunic, Giga Atacado, GBarbosa and Bretas.
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In the coming days, the company will receive a cash boost of R$25 million, with the aim of preserving the normal functioning of the operation for customers and employees. The deal still depends on approval from the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade), which will analyze the operation.
The request for judicial recovery was presented eight months after St Marche completed its extrajudicial recovery, in October last year — a period in which the sale to Cencosud was already being discussed.
The chain was among the retailers impacted by the rapid rise in interest rates in Brazil, which led to the renegotiation of R$528 million in debt through an extrajudicial recovery plan that began in April last year and ended in October.
In this process, the company received R$90 million in DIP financing, a type of credit aimed at companies in financial stress. The American fund L Catterton, which owns 70% of the business, contributed R$45 million at the beginning of the restructuring, while the rest was injected later by BTG. A fund from the institution held more than R$280 million in company credits.
After the pandemic, St Marche put an expansion plan into practice and went from 21 stores, with revenue of R$700 million in 2021, to 32 units and revenue of R$1.3 billion in 2024. In the same interval, Selic went from 2% to 15%, significantly increasing the pressure on the chain’s cash flow.
