The real estate-commercial nexus in the Brazilian supermarket sector

• Grant number: 24/10700-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: February 29, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: Eliseu Savério Sposito
• Grantee: Victor Hugo Quissi Cordeiro da Silva
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Presidente Prudente. Presidente Prudente , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The general objective of this research is to analyze the redefinition of the role of land and the dispute over the capture of land rents by Brazilian supermarket commercial capital. We take as a starting point the opening of real estate divisions of companies in the supermarket sector, with the purpose of actively managing their respective real estate assets. In this sense, they entered the circuit of real estate appreciation, as demonstrated by the examples of the companies Grupo Carrefour Brasil, Grupo Pão de Açúcar (GPA) and Assaí Atacadista. Our research hypothesis is the possible transformation from a store of value to an asset of value, which the real estate assets of large supermarket groups have been undergoing in recent years. In the study of the supermarket sector, we will be able to verify the organizational and spatial transformations arising from or influenced by new financialized metrics and reasoning, with the transformation of the role of land through real estate divisions being our main focus of analysis. Our methodological procedures are divided as follows: Bibliographic survey based on the research keywords; Analysis, cross-referencing and mapping of the real estate portfolio of Brazilian real estate investment funds and the real estate divisions of supermarket companies; Documentary analysis of reports and news published by Brazilian print or digital media, focusing on articles about the real estate divisions of supermarket companies; Interview with managers of real estate investment funds and managers responsible for the real estate divisions of large supermarket groups; Survey and organization of changes in Brazilian legislation that allowed the construction of the current legal and institutional arrangement that supports the actions of the agents studied in this research. (AU)