Carrefour, Tesco alliance to become operational in October

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)