Francesco Pugliese, CEO of Conad, has been elected Chairman of Core, the new strategic alliance including Colruyt (Belgium), Conad, Coop (Switzerland) and Rewe Group (Germany). An alliance capable of responding to the growing competitive challenges of competition in Europe and the internationalisation of agri-food product trade.

Based in Brussels, the legal status is that of a Belgian cooperative society.

In 2013 the four groups recorded a turnover of approx. 90 billion euros – approx. 6.7% of the value of the entire European market – with a network of 20 thousand outlets in 18 European countries.

The Board of Directors includes Frans Colruyt and Christophe Dehandschutter (Colruyt), Joos Sutter and Philipp Wyss (Coop Suisse), Alain Caparros and Manfred Esser (Rewe Group) and Francesco Avanzini (Conad).