Retailer Profi Rom, which runs the Profi discount shops in Romania, recently received the green light from the country's Competition Council to take over six grocery stores in Cluj – Napoca. The grocery stores taken over by the discounter were operated by Alimrom Trading, and each has a different name: Alina, Ioana, Crina, Mercur, Viorica and Mega Cj.

The seller, which used to run the former Alimentara network of stores, posted revenues of some EUR 6.6 million in 2011, and also owns a restaurant and a boarding house, which were not part of the deal with Profi. One of the stores included in the deal is a supermarket, and the others are neighborhood shops. The value of the deal was not announced, but sources on the market placed it at some EUR 3 million. the owners of Alimrom are local investors Cristian Muresan and Crina Corbeanu.

According to previous information, Profi plans to invest some EUR 18 million in expansion projects in 2013 in Romania, including inauguration of new stores and potential acquisitions of other retail chains on the local market. This is Profi's third acquisition in Romania so far, after buying Albinuta in 2007 and Alcomsib  in Sibiu in 2012.

Profi currently runs 155 stores in Romania and plans to open 42 more this year. In Cluj, Profi runs five stores already. The Romanian subsidiary of Profi is owned by Polish Enterprise Fund, managed by Enterprise Investors.

editor@romania-insider.com