Not so anonymous: La Anonima, big in Argentina's rural areas, is on the move.

In 1908, two small family-run companies merged to create Sociedad Anonima Importadoray Exportadora de la Patagonia (SAIEP). The new company got into general stores, farming and began its own shipping company. Nearly a century later, it controls La Anonima, one of Argentina's biggest supermarket chains, and is seeking now to expand. Nearly unknown in Buenos Aires, La Anonima is an institution in southern Argentina.

Fast growth has made the company--which has traded on the Argentine stock exchange since 1942--the fourth-largest in the country, with 106 stores. In addition to the supermarket business, SAIEP also has a large cold-storage business, from which it exports meat to the international market.

The strategy has allowed the company to continue growing, most of all in Patagonia in Argentina's deep south, a geography it knows inside and out. The company plans to build stores in places where it isn't already doing business and is considering other provinces with cities that are the right size for the business, that is, with populations of between 50,000 and 200,000. Big supermarket chains tend to avoid building in those towns since it means lower volumes of business, which is SAIEP's strength. "The objective of the company is to continue growing market share in order to strengthen our position as the biggest regional supermarket chain in the country," says SAIEP President Federico Braun.

A clear example of the strategy is the purchase of the Quijote supermarket chain in Santa Fe province. In October 2004 SAIEP bought 100% of the shares of Supermercados Quijote, which has six stores and a distribution center, an estimated US$6 million investment. "This acquisition allowed us to increase our geographic coverage thanks to the incorporation of four new cities in Santa Fe province, assuring our strategy of growth in medium-sized and smaller cities in the country's interior," Braun says.

In addition to having supermarkets in the main cities in Patagonia, made up of the provinces of Neuquen, Rio Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego, La Anonima has opened in Cordoba, La Pampa and Buenos Aires province, too. In the city of Buenos Aires, the company owns Best mini-markets, with 15 stores strategically located in the city center and in lower-income neighborhoods.

Logistics is key for SAIEP, considering that its stores are spread across the map of Argentina. So it built 10 regional distribution centers and a main transfer center, in Ituzaingo, in Buenos Aires province. The economic crisis at the end of 2001 also affected the business, although it managed to survive. Braun feels that the company overcame the economic collapse precisely because it was in Patagonia, where recovery was quicker because high oil and com modifies prices allowed for a comeback more quickly than in other areas of Argentina.

Before the crisis, SAIEP carried debts of $75 million. The company managed to restructure with its creditors and reschedule $36 million in payments to expire in 2008.

SAIEP's results for 2005 were positive, with net sales of $486 million, up from $390 million in the previous year. La Anonima posted net profits of $10 million in 2005. "Outlook for 2006 is positive, and we expect to continue to grow through rising sales in existing stores and also by opening new stores," says Karina Collazo, finance manager for SAIEP. She points out that last year the company invested in new stores and in remodeling or expanding existing stores, spending $11 million in the process.

Niche. Weiss, a Patagonian food company that specializes in smoked meats like deer, boar, trout and also in cheeses, is a supplier to La Anonima. "Although we don't work in the big volumes because we make a niche product, the relationship we have with La Anonima is very good, since we have been a supplier to them for a long time," says Eduardo Weiss, who runs the company. His products are in most of the stores in the southern part of Argentina, he says, and they do very well in the aisles of La Anonima.

JUAN PEDRO TOMAS * BUENOS AIRES