French online sales site vente-privée.com has announced that it has acquired "a majority stake" in vente-exclusive.com, the leading Belgian site for online sales, with a goal of extending activities into Northern Europe.

The exact level of participation and the amount of the operation have not been disclosed.

"This new phase shows off our active approach to European expansion, which is focused on an orgnaic growth strategy and external growth," said the CEO and founder of vente-privée.com, Jacques-Antoine Granjon, in a press release.

Vente-exclusive.com "has a real expertise in human relations, especially when it comes to addressing its members. It is an industry leader in the market and very profitable, it isn't experiencing any financial activities," Jacques-Antoine Granjon explained to the AFP.

Founded in 2006 by two Belgian businessmen, vente-exclusive.com has 4 million members and employs 160 people. In 2014, the company 90 million euros in sales and ha a goal of reaching 130 million euro in sales this year.

Vente-privée.com's participation in its Belgian counterpart will include amalgamating the two websites' activities, especially in terms of supply.

The managing team of the Belgian site will remain the same and will "continue to manage vente-exclusive.com independently as before," points out the press release.

"This partnership with the European leader in the market will allow us to accelerate our growth and expand our offer to new sectors, which our members will benefit from," said Léon Seynave and Stefan Tournoy, the co-founders of vente-exclusive.com.

This operation will also be a gateway to Northern Europe. Having bowed out of the United States last October due to poor profitability, vente-privée.com had announced that it wanted to refocus on Europe.

Created in 2001, the vente-privée.com website offers its members significantly reduced prices on clearance items for a limited amount of time, items that include clothing, accessories, homeware, travel, etc. In 2014, the site reported 1.7 billion euros in sales.