Greek toy and decoration retailer Jumbo has bought the Liberty Center shopping mall in Bucharest's Rahova neighbourhood from Greek banks that owned it, for about EUR 20 million, according to Profit.ro quoting sources familiar with the deal.

The retailer is preparing to set up its first store in a mall in Romania. It already owns 16 hypermarkets in the country.

The Liberty Center mall, inaugurated in 2008 following an investment of about EUR 70 million, was foreclosed in 2012 by the three banks that financed the construction – Eurobank EFG Luxembourg, Alpha Bank and Bank of Cyprus – based on a debt of EUR 61 million.

Liberty Center reported a profit of EUR 3.33 million in 2022.

Jumbo has already started the steps to set up a store on part of the 25,700 square meters area of the mall. In fact, the entire shopping centre is undergoing a remodelling process. Recently, the cinema in the mall, operated by Happy Cinema, was closed.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Lenutaidi/Dreamstime.com)