(Bloomberg) — The families behind parts of Germany’s Aldi empire of discount supermarkets have held talks about a possible merger, WirtschaftsWoche reported on Saturday.
The discussions between the Heister family, which owns Aldi Sued, and two strands of the Albrecht family, which owns Aldi Nord, have been going on for several weeks, the magazine said, citing people close to the families it didn’t identify. A proposal under which the two companies would combine under a joint holding company with shares evenly divided between the families’ trusts is among scenarios being discussed, according to the magazine.
While a merger was initially targeted by the end of the year, that is now viewed as unrealistic, WirtschaftsWoche said. In a first step, the companies may now agree to combine software and IT, it said.
The companies didn’t respond to WirtschaftsWoche requests for comment.
Merger talks have become possible since the heirs behind Aldi Nord agreed to reorganize their side of the business three years ago, ending a feud that had drawn the once-obsessively secretive clan into the courtroom and the public eye.
Family conflicts have peppered Aldi’s history since brothers Theo and Karl Albrecht took over their parents’ grocery store after World War II. They split in 1960 in a dispute over whether to sell cigarettes, drawing a line through Germany that created Aldi Nord and Aldi Sued.
The two branches now have more than 10,000 stores combined, both in Germany and in international markets like the UK. Theo’s side of the family also owns US discounter Trader Joe’s, which it bought in 1979.
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