Aldi may appear as if they were a single enterprise with certain store brands or when negotiating with contractor companies. The individual groups were originally owned and managed jointly by the brothers. Karl Albrecht, who died in 2014, retained ownership of Aldi Süd with a personal wealth of €17.2 billion that made him the richest man in Germany. The co-owners of Aldi Nord, Berthold and Theo Albrecht Jr. came close behind at €16 billion. Dieter Schwarz, owner of Lidl and Kaufland came in third, with a fortune of €11.5 billion. Aldi started to expand internationally in 1967, when Aldi Süd acquired
Continente (Supermarket) Continente (Supermarket) Continente is a retail chain that belongs to Sonae Distribuição, the largest retailer in Portugal. The hypermarket Continente chain is in spread all over continental Portugal as well on Madeira and in Azores. The supermarket chain Continente Modelo, formerly named just Modelo, has also a nationwide presence. Sonae Distribuição, SGPS, SA, is a subsidiary company of Sonae SGPS. Sonae Distribuição started in 1985 by the merger of two large retailers, Modelo and Continente. Modelo was owned by the Sonae holding, while Continente was the Portuguese and Spanish operation of the French retailer Promodès, known by the ensign Continent