French hypermarket chain Carrefour said that it is joining forces with Greece's Marinopoulous to develop hypermarkets and supermarkets in the Balkan region. In a statement this week, Carrefour announced the creation of a new joint venture which will seek expansion in Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.

The new joint venture will be 60%-owned by Marinopoulous and 40%-owned by Carrefour Marinopoulos, which was founded 17 years ago as a joint company owned by Carrefour and Marinopoulos.

The partnership comes after a longstanding collaboration between the two groups in Greece and Cyprus, where Carrefour and Marinopoulos today jointly operate 35 hypermarkets, 219 supermarkets and 284 convenience stores through their Carrefour Marinopoulos subsidiary, with turnover in 2009 of EUR 2.4 bn.

'The creation of this joint subsidiary is a new step in the exemplary partnership between Carrefour and Marinopoulos in Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria, and should allow the two groups to pursue growth in the promising Balkan region,' the companies said.

In 2007 the two business partners also set up a joint company in Bulgaria, which is currently 20%-controlled by Carrefour and 80%-owned by Carrefour Marinopoulos. According to Carrefour, the Bulgarian unit will now be merged into the new company.