Business#AnthropicCEOCallsForAISlowdown $btc
BUSINESS IN EXPANSION
STARTUPS
FRANCHISES
NOSTALGIA
CRIS ARCANGELI
Home
Business
Owner of Cruzeiro has 420 supermarkets, 50 thousand employees, and generates R$ 26 billion in revenue
Pedro Lourenço started by unloading a truck at Casas da Banha and today is in talks to buy a rival that generates 8.9 billion Brazilian reais
Pedro Lourenço, from Supermercados BH: BH’s growth in 2025 was 21%, versus 8.6% in the average of the 227 companies in the TOP 300 that have comparable numbers in the last two years. (Pedro Silveira/Exame)
Pedro Lourenço, from Supermercados BH: BH’s growth in 2025 was 21%, versus 8.6% in the average of the 227 TOP 300 companies that have comparable numbers in the past two years. (Pedro Silveira/Exame)
Daniel Giussani
Daniel Giussani
Business reporter
Published on September 13, 2026 at 09:23.
Prioritize in my Google results
Brazil’s grocery retail market moved more than R$ 1.1 trillion in 2025, equivalent to 9% of GDP. It’s the most fragmented sector in the country’s commerce: among the 156 supermarket companies that appear in the ranking of the 300 largest retailers, most operate in a single state and have fewer than 50 stores.
Minas Gerais is the most extreme case of this logic. Supermercados BH closed 2025 with R$ 25.7 billion in sales and 420 stores, almost all within Minas Gerais territory.
Also see
Datafolha poll for senator in Minas: Marília, Viana, Aécio, Sávio, and Aro are tied statistically
After selling R$ 50 billion, Hotmart giant launches AI to create apps without needing to code
Quaest survey: Cleitinho leads with 32% and opens a 21-point lead over Patrus and Kalil
The chain is the largest retailer in Minas Gerais and the ninth largest in Brazilian retail, according to the TOP 300 of Brazilian Retail, a study by the Retail Think Tank (IRTT) institute, released in the last week.
Follow Exame and stay on top of the latest news from Brazil and the world
Follow on Google
In the specific ranking for food retail by the Brazilian Supermarkets Association (ABRAS), the company appears in fourth place in the country, behind only Carrefour, Assaí, and Grupo Mateus.
The owner is Pedro Lourenço de Oliveira, the same entrepreneur who bought 90% of Cruzeiro’s SAF, the Football Public Company model that turned clubs into businesses, for R$ 600 million.
The chain completes 30 years in 2026 at the moment it stops being only a Minas-based company.
In April, BH signed the deal to buy DMA Distribuidora, which owns the Epa Supermercados and Mineirão Atacarejo banners.
DMA is the fourth-place company in the Minas ranking, with R$ 8.9 billion. If the deal is completed, the group will add approximately R$ 35 billion and around 600 stores across four states: Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Bahia, and Pernambuco.
The next chapter depends on Brazil’s antitrust authority, Cade (Administrative Council for Economic Defense).
The regulator has already approved part of the operation — 40 stores, three fuel stations, and two distribution centers — and the company said it is waiting for the other formal steps. The point of attention is Minas Gerais, where the two networks already overlap. The state is the country’s third-largest supermarket market and moves R$ 80.6 billion just among the ten largest chains.
What are the 10 largest retailers in Minas Gerais
Minas has 23 companies in the TOP 300 of the IRTT, totaling R$ 106.4 billion — 8% of the revenue of the 300 largest retailers in the country in 2025. Of those 23, 17 operate in supermarkets, hypermarkets, or cash-and-carry. It’s the most concentrated state list in the food retail sector.
Supermercados BH: R$ 25.7 billion
Mart Minas: R$ 12.6 billion
Martins (Rede Smart Supermercados): R$ 11.8 billion
DMA Distribuidora (Epa Supermercados): R$ 8.9 billion
Azzas 2154: R$ 7.6 billion
ABC Group: R$ 5.5 billion
Drogaria Araújo: R$ 5.2 billion
Supernosso Group: R$ 5.1 billion
Bahamas Supermarket: R$ 4.5 billion
Villefort: R$ 3.6 billion
The leader earns double the second-place company’s revenue. And the gap grows: BH’s growth in 2025 was 21%, versus 8.6% in the average of the 227 TOP 300 companies that have comparable numbers in the past two years. After adjusting for inflation, the group’s increase was 4.3%, the weakest since 2021.
For the study’s authors, that dispersed geography holds up. “It’s not correct to say that Brazilian retail is becoming concentrated. What we have is a movement of more companies growing and becoming more relevant, but regional diversity remains,” says consultant Alberto Serrentino, a partner at IRTT.
What is the story of Pedro Lourenço
Pedro Lourenço was born in Paineiras, a town 250 kilometers from Belo Horizonte, in October 1955. His parents were farm laborers. He studied until the eighth year of elementary school and, at 18, moved to the capital to look for work.
The first job was as a truck unload worker at Banha’s Houses (Casas da Banha), a retail chain that no longer exists. Inside the company, he worked in inventory, restocking, and sales. After that, he became a sales representative for a rice wholesaler.
In May 1996, he opened a grocery store in the São Benedito neighborhood in Santa Luzia, in the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte. It was just one commercial location. He bought goods, served customers at the counter, and paid the bills.
The chain expanded by buying stores in difficulty on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte and in small interior towns that didn’t have a supermarket. It was a low-income customer base, with no installed competition and with a much lower commercial location cost than that practiced in central neighborhoods.
The move required cash. In 2004, Pedro Lourenço sold 40% of the operation to raise money and keep buying units. The choice of format followed the audience: stores from 1,000 to 2,000 square meters, a lean assortment, and price as the main argument.
How the company expands
The recent leap has a name and a date. In February 2025, BH signed the purchase of all of the operations of the Bretas banner in Minas Gerais: 54 supermarkets, eight fuel stations, a distribution center, and other assets, for R$ 716 million. The seller was the Chilean Cencosud, which had acquired Bretas in 2010 for R$ 1.35 billion at the time’s values.
The integration began in May 2025.
On July 9 of that year, Cade authorized without restrictions the transfer of a portion of 22 stores, distributed across ten Minas Gerais municipalities: Juiz de Fora, Curvelo, Janaúba, Matozinhos, Montes Claros, Pedro Leopoldo, Pirapora, Sete Lagoas, Unaí, and Varginha. The opinion identified overlapping activities in all the cities, but concluded that the presence of Bahamas, Assaí, Atacadão, and Mart Minas kept competition viable.
One week after the Bretas deal, BH bought Canguru Supermercados, three stores in the hills (Serra) of Espírito Santo. The Dall'Orto Dalvi family, which owned the chain since 1978, sold only the operating business and kept the properties, which were then leased to the Minas-based group.
BH stopped being a one-state company before the 2025 purchases. In July 2023, it took over 34 stores from the Epa and Mineirão Atacarejo banners in Espírito Santo — 21 in retail and 13 in wholesale — all converted to the network’s yellow storefront during that month. It was the first operation outside Minas.
With Canguru, the group reached 41 stores in 11 Espírito Santo municipalities, including Vitória, Serra, and Guarapari.
BH’s growth combines two fronts. The first is buying competitors. The second is opening company-owned stores and converting acquired units.
Sales followed suit. The chain moved from R$ 17.4 billion in 2023 to R$ 21.3 billion in 2024 and R$ 25.7 billion in 2025 — a 48% increase over two years.
If the DMA purchase is confirmed, combined revenue will be approximately R$ 34.6 billion, which narrows the gap with the national third-place company, Grupo Mateus, with R$ 43.5 billion, and widens the lead over Grupo Pão de Açúcar, which recorded R$ 20.6 billion.
How much revenue did Supermercados BH have in 2025?
Supermercados BH posted R$ 25.7 billion in revenue in 2025 and ended the year with 420 stores. According to the TOP 300 of the Retail Think Tank Institute, the company is the largest retailer in Minas Gerais and the ninth largest in Brazil.
Who is the owner of Supermercados BH?
Supermercados BH belongs to Pedro Lourenço de Oliveira, an entrepreneur who also bought 90% of Cruzeiro’s SAF for R$ 600 million. Forbes estimates Pedro Lourenço’s fortune at about R$ 7.5 billion.
When did Pedro Lourenço found Supermercados BH?
Pedro Lourenço opened the network’s first grocery store in May 1996, in the São Benedito neighborhood, in Santa Luzia, in the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte. The business initially grew by buying stores in difficulty on the outskirts of the capital and in small towns in the interior.
Did Supermercados BH buy Epa and Mineirão Atacarejo?
Supermercados BH signed an agreement in April to buy DMA Distribuidora, which owns the Epa Supermercados and Mineirão Atacarejo banners, but the conclusion depends on the formal steps of Cade. The agency has already cleared a portion of the operation consisting of 40 stores, three fuel stations, and two distribution centers.
How big will Supermercados BH be after the DMA purchase?
If the DMA purchase is completed, the group will have combined revenue of approximately R$ 35 billion and about 600 stores in Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Bahia, and Pernambuco. The deal will reduce the distance to Grupo Mateus, the national third-place company with revenue of R$ 43.5 billion.
What are the largest retailers in Minas Gerais?
According to the TOP 300 of IRTT, the ten largest retail companies in Minas Gerais are Supermercados BH, Mart Minas, Martins, DMA Distribuidora, Azzas 2154, ABC Group, Drogaria Araújo, Supernosso Group, Bahamas Supermarket, and Villefort. Supermercados BH leads with R$ 25.7 billion, more than double the R$ 12.6 billion recorded by Mart Minas.