French group Adeo, which runs a Leroy Merlin store in Romania, will buy competitor bauMax' 15 do-it-yourself (DIY) stores in Romania, as the German group decided to exit the market in order to restructure its loss generating business.

The transaction was officially announced by bauMax in a press release but still needs the approval from the Romanian Competition Council before it will be finalized. The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

bauMax has 15 stores in Romania which generated sales of EUR 123 million in 2012. The company didn’t publish its financial results for 2013. From 2010 to 2012 the company made some EUR 38 million losses. It has more than 1,100 employees in Romania.

Adeo is already present on the Romanian market with its Leroy Merlin brand, which runs a store in Bucharest. The store had a turnover of EUR 24.5 million and a loss of EUR 7.5 million in 2013.

British group Kingfisher, who bought the Bricostore DIY stores last year, and Turkish businessman Omer Susli, who bought Praktiker, were also interested in buying bauMax, according to Romanian media. Both are trying to consolidate their presence on the market, which is dominated by Romanian group Dedeman, which had more than EUR 600 million in sales last year.

German retailer Obi will also exit the market but it failed to find a buyer for its operations here, according to Ziarul Financiar. Obi has seven stores in Romania.

editor@romania-insider.com