MONTREAL — La Coop fédérée has just announced the acquisition of all assets of Groupe BMR, creating a combined entity that is second only to RONA in Quebec’s retail home improvement arena.
The deal is the conclusion of a union that began more than a year ago, when La Coop bought up 20% of BMR. Besides having more than 160 stores in Quebec—most of them dealer-owned—BMR is also active in Ontario, the Maritimes, and Saint-Pierre et Miquelon. It generates annual sales of more than $1.4 billion and employs 5,000 people through a total of almost 180 stores.
The merger will give La Coop a total of 350 building centres and hardware stores. Both the Unimat and BMR brands will remain in use.
