SHV originated in 1896 from a merger between a number of large
coal mining companies, some of which had been active since the 18th century. In 1968, the first Makro store opened in Amsterdam. In the following years more stores opened in the Netherlands and several other European countries. In April 1971 the first Makro in the UK opened in Eccles, Manchester. Also in 1971, the first Makro store outside Europe opened in
South Africa. In the 1970s and 1980s, Makro extended its business to the Americas and Asia. Makro had also expanded to the
United States in the mid-1980s. In 1989,
Kmart bought the US locations, and converted most of them to Pace Warehouse in 1990. Makro expanded to Asia with its first store in Thailand in 1989. Operating as Siam Makro, the company is a joint venture between
Charoen Pokphand and SHV Holdings. In 1994, Siam Makro planned to be listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand to fund an expansion programme. The
South African stores were subsequently in 1990 exchanged for a shareholding in
Massmart and in 2004 SHV sold its Massmart shares. Makro began operations in Malaysia around 1994 with its first outlet in Shah Alam, followed by another one in Selayang and in Johor Bahru. Makro Malaysia was a partnership between its parent Dutch company, the
Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) and PKNS-Inchcape (a joint venture between PKNS and Inchcape). In its first year of operation, Makro Malaysia invested a total of RM 90 million. It had plans to open six to eight outlets in a few years. In 1998, owner SHV Holdings sold the Makro stores in Europe to German partner
Metro AG. The sale, announced on 29 October 1997, was approved by the supervisory board of Metro AG on 17 December 1997. Makro entered the
Philippine market in 1996 through a joint venture with
SM Prime Holdings and the
Ayala Group. In 2004, Ayala sold its 28% stake to its joint venture partners. By late 2007,
SM Investments Corporation increased its ownership in Pilipinas Makro to 60% and subsequently integrated Makro stores into its operations. Eventually, the SM Investments Corporation acquired full ownership of Makro and rebranded all its stores as SM Hypermarket and Savemore. Makro is set to return in the Philippines through a partnership between the Ayala Group and CP Axtra, with its comeback flagship store located at
Ayala Malls Cloverleaf, aiming to reclaim the spot taken over by
S&R and
Landers from its initial departure. On 31 January 2007, Makro Malaysia was acquired by
Tesco and the 8 stores in Malaysia were converted to Tesco Extra. In 2010, Makro Cash & Carry Indonesia was sold to
Lotte Mart and rebranded as Lotte Mart Wholesale. In 2011
Walmart took ownership of Makro in South Africa after acquiring a majority stake in Massmart (which Walmart would fully acquire later in the year). In 2012,
Metro sold the Makro UK business to
Booker Group, while Makro-Habib in Pakistan was rebranded as
Metro-Habib. In 2013,
SHV sold Siam Makro Pcl. (Thailand) to CP ALL, a subsidiary of
CP Group. In 2020, 30 of 54 Makro stores in Brazil, were acquired by
Carrefour. ==Store locations==