PARIS (Reuters) - Supermarket retailers Carrefour <CARR.PA> and Tesco <TSCO.L> said on Monday that they expected their previously-announced purchasing alliance to become operational in October.
The companies first announced the tie-up in July, with French company Carrefour joining up with UK peer Tesco to form a global purchasing alliance to demand better terms from major suppliers, in the latest attempt by the industry to drive down costs.
With combined annual sales of $170 billion (£130.8 billion), the partnership is designed to secure a better deal from the likes of Nestle <NESN.S>, Procter & Gamble <PG.N>, Unilever <ULVR.L>, Danone <DANO.PA> and others to help the French and British groups to compete hard on price.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
