Mercadia, the retail company controlled by Romanian billionaire Dinu Patriciu (in picture), will invest EUR 100 million in the Mic.ro network of stores, turning 2,000 of them into mobile stores. The company will buy cars and turn them into mobile stores. Mercadia already signed for 1,000 Fiat Ducato cars with importer Autoitalia.  The network will also be expanded in the Republic of Moldova in spring next year. The Mic.ro network should reach 1,000 stores and 2,000 mobile units.

The 1,000 Fiat Ducato cars will be delivered in 18 months, around 60 units a month. The Mic.ro fleet will make around 30 percent of Autoitalia's fleet sales for next year. The cars will be transformed by Sperotto, a company which specializes in mobile stores. Each car will have the same location during the day, but during the night, they will be -recharged while the stock of merchandise will be refreshed.

The Mic.ro network already generates EUR 285,000 of sales every day, with an estimated sales volume per unit of around EUR 730. There are 150 Mic.ro stores, which are already marginally profitable, according to Dinu Patriciu.

Patriciu has also taken over miniMax discounter, which it plans to re-brand as Mac.ro and turn its units into community stores. As for the Mic.ro network, when it will reach sales of EUR 2 billion, which is expected to happen in around two years, Patriciu hopes to sell this business too. He sold the Rompetrol oil and gas business in 2007 to KazmunaiGaz.

editor@romania-insider.com