Carrefour, the Paris-based retail organization with worldwide representation, announced plans to spend $1.1 billion over the next four years to double the number of hypermarkets it operates in Spain, to 240. In addition, Carrefour stated it wished to raise the number of in-store optical stores to 72 (up from 27), travel agencies to 63 (up from 10) and gas stations to 78 (up from 18). Carrefour Espana is the company to be formed after the mergers of Carrefour's Centros Comerciales Pryca SA and Promodes'Centros Comerciales Continente SA.