The new owners of the McDonald’s Romania franchise plan to increase investments in the local restaurant chain. They haven’t announced a budget for investments for this year, as this depends on how many new units the company will open.

“We may open one restaurant or two this year, but we don’t have an exact number yet,” said Melo Hili, the CEO of Hili Ventures, the Maltese group that took over McDonald’s Romania earlier this week. The group may accelerate the pace of new openings starting 2017, when 3 or 4 restaurants may be inaugurated, according to Hili.

McDonald’s Romania will also invest in refurbishing 4 or 5 of its restaurants outside Bucharest and in opening 6 or 7 new McCafe coffee shops. The company also plans to develop the new platform integration concept into three of its restaurants, according to Daniel Boaje, McDonald’s Romania CEO. Boaje is also a minority shareholder in the local company, with a 10% stake.

Premier Capital, a division of Hili Ventures, paid USD 65.3 million to American group McDonald’s to take over its network in Romania under franchise. Premier Capital, which also owns 64 McDonald’s restaurants in the Baltics, Greece, and Malta, will more than double its business after this deal. The group’s turnover was about EUR 100 million in 2015.

McDonald’s Romania is the biggest restaurant chain in Romania, with 67 units, 4,000 employees, and total sales of some EUR 110 million in 2015.

Maltese group pays EUR 60 mln for McDonald’s franchise in Romania

How many Big Macs has McDonald’s sold in Romania in 20 years?

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com