Sendas was founded in 1974 with the opening of the first Assaí Atacadista store by its founder, focusing on supplying small businesses.
In 2007, the company was partially acquired by Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição (CBD), controlled by the Casino Group, which completed the acquisition in 2011. Prior to being acquired by CBD, the Company operated exclusively in the state of São Paulo. After the acquisition, the Company expanded its operations geographically, operating 28 stores in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Ceará by the end of 2008. By the end of 2011, this expansion continued, with a total of 59 stores across São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Ceará, Tocantins, Pernambuco, Goiás, and the Federal District.
In 2016, CBD carried out an asset reorganization to focus Assaí’s operations under Sendas and CBD’s multivarejo operations under CBD itself. This reorganization involved three main actions: (i) the partial spin-off of the Company, transferring to CBD the assets and liabilities related to the multivarejo stores; (ii) the incorporation of Barcelona Comércio Atacadista e Varejista S.A.; and (iii) the incorporation of Xantocarpa Participações Ltda. As a result of these incorporations, all stores operating in the cash & carry model were transferred to the Company.
In July 2017, the company launched the Passaí card in partnership with Banco Itaú, strengthening its financial services portfolio. The card has become increasingly relevant to both our customers and the Company. With approximately 3 million cards in circulation and representing about 5% of sales, it offers a value proposition that allows customers to pay wholesale prices when purchasing just one item, reinforcing the company’s commitment to delivering value and savings to its customers. That same year, it became the Casino Group’s largest brand in terms of gross revenue.
In 2019, Sendas launched a public offer to acquire all shares of Almacenes Éxito S.A., a transaction that was successfully completed.
In September 2020, CBD’s Board of Directors authorized a study to separate the Company’s cash & carry unit through a partial spin-off, which was approved in extraordinary general meetings held in December 2020. As a result of this spin-off, in February 2021, the Company’s shares were listed on the Novo Mercado of B3 and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), marking the beginning of independent trading of Sendas shares. CBD shareholders received Sendas shares in the proportion of one Sendas share for each GPA share.
After the spin-off, Sendas and CBD began operating independently. As part of this reorganization, Sendas also received land and 50% of the shares in Bellamar Empreendimento e Participações S.A., a company that holds a stake in Financeira Itaú CBD S.A. Crédito, Financiamento e Investimento, a Brazilian company that provides financial services in both the Company’s and CBD’s stores, with exclusive rights to offer credit cards, financial services, and insurance policies (except extended warranty).
In October 2022, Casino Guichard Perrachon, the controlling shareholder of the Company, began exploring the sale of part of its stake in Sendas, resulting in a secondary public offering in November 2022, where 140.8 million shares were sold at R$19.00 per share, generating R$2.675 billion. In March 2023, Casino carried out another offering, selling 254 million shares at R$16.00 per share, reducing its stake in the Company to 11.7%.
In July 2023, Casino, through its subsidiaries, sold 157.6 million shares in a block trade operation, reducing its stake in Sendas to less than 0.01%. As a result, Casino is no longer considered a related party to the Company.
These operations have brought significant benefits to Sendas and its shareholders, including attracting new qualified investors, increasing the liquidity of shares in the market, greater shareholder base dispersion, and strengthening corporate governance.
In 2024, the Company was named by Interbrand for the sixth consecutive year as one of the 25 most valuable brands in Brazil.
