Carrefour has agreed to one of the largest buyout deals seen in France with the sale of its frozen food division Picard Surgelés. The 920m euro (£579.86m) business, in which Carrefour had a 73.89% stake, was sold to a consortium of investors led by British buyout specialist Candover this week. Candover invested 138m euros (£86.98m), with partners including the management taking the total value of the deal to 320m euros. Picard will continue to be run by its management team led by Xavier Decelle as it expands its convenience range in the top end of the market, said Candover director Christopher Spencer. The group has 441 stores in France and operates a home delivery service. It made a net profit of 27 million euros on sales of 556 million euros (£350.43m) last year. Spencer said: "Picard is an exceptional business with a powerful brand commanding high customer loyalty." {{NEWS }}