Who owns Ara?
Ara is owned by Jerónimo Martins (Portugal, Euronext Lisbon: JMT).[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Jerónimo Martins Annual Report 2025, Jerónimo Martins SGPS, S.A. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Jerónimo Martins SGPS, S.A. reported
- Owner HQ
- 🇵🇹 Portugal, Lisbon
- Origin
- 🇨🇴 Colombia
- Founded
- 2013
- Category
- Home, garden & DIY › Retailer own brands › Grocery own brands
- Parent ticker
- Euronext Lisbon: JMT
- Last verified
- · 2 sources
About Ara
Ara is the Colombian chain of neighbourhood proximity stores Jerónimo Martins built from scratch, and it is the fastest-growing part of the group. It closed 2025 with 1,653 stores, around 19,000 employees and more than 500 Colombian suppliers, having opened 225 stores in the year, among them 71 sites previously operated by Colsubsidio.
Ownership timeline of Ara
- Current owner Jerónimo Martins [1] reported
Where Ara sits in Jerónimo Martins
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Jerónimo Martins ownership tree →
See the full Jerónimo Martins brand portfolio (10) →
Other brands owned by Jerónimo Martins
Jerónimo Martins controls 10 brands on Brandtree, 7 of them in home, garden & diy.
Also in home, garden & diy
- Amanhecer (2009)
- Biedronka (1995)
- Bodega del Canasto (2017)
- Hebe (2011)
- Pingo Doce (1980)
- Recheio (1972)
Other brands in grocery own brands, and who owns them
The 170 brands in grocery own brands on Brandtree belong to 55 owners. The largest is Cencosud, with 12; Jerónimo Martins has 6.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Bretas | Cencosud | 🇨🇱 Chile |
| Lucerne | Albertsons | 🇺🇸 United States |
| City Gross | Axfood | 🇸🇪 Sweden |
| Chalo | Empire | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| Checkers | Shoprite Group | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| K-Citymarket | Kesko | 🇫🇮 Finland |
| Farmer's Market | Loblaw | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| Chef Direct | AML Foods | 🇧🇸 Bahamas |
About the owner: Jerónimo Martins
Jerónimo Martins is a publicly listed company headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal, founded in 1792. Brandtree records 10 brands under its control, and it is listed as Euronext Lisbon: JMT.
Jerónimo Martins is a Portuguese food group that dates itself to 1792, when a young Galician opened a modest store in the Chiado district of Lisbon. It reported 36 billion euros of sales and 147,709 employees in 2025, and food distribution accounts for more than 98 per cent of that. The company is Portuguese and family-controlled, but most of its business is not in Portugal: the Polish discounter Biedronka alone is about 70 per cent of group sales and 80 per cent of EBITDA.
Jerónimo Martins: full profile, brands and acquisition history →
🇨🇴 Ara and other Colombian brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 108 brands that began in Colombia. 10 of them (9%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Ara among them.
- Alutions — Tecnoglass 🇨🇴
- Argos — Cementos Argos 🇨🇴
- Carulla — Grupo Éxito 🇨🇴
- Ternium Colombia — Ternium 🇱🇺
- Activade — Quala 🇨🇴
- Agua Cristal — Postobón 🇨🇴
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Ara?
The parent company of Ara is Jerónimo Martins, a publicly listed company headquartered in Portugal.
Is Ara Colombian or Portuguese?
Ara originated in Colombia in 2013, but it is owned today by Jerónimo Martins, which is headquartered in Portugal. So Ara is a Colombian-origin brand under Portuguese ownership.
Is Ara still owned by Jerónimo Martins?
Yes. As of 25 October 2026, Ara is still owned by Jerónimo Martins. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (2) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Jerónimo Martins Annual Report 2025 — Jerónimo Martins SGPS, S.A., Annual report; retrieved 16 September 2026.
- [2] Jerónimo Martins Annual Report 2013 — Jerónimo Martins SGPS, S.A., Annual report; retrieved 25 October 2026.
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