Enterprise Investors buys Profi for 66m euros
Ziarul Financiar
19.11.2009
Enterprise Investors, manager of investment fund Polish
Enterprise Fund V, which exited the retail market in 2007 by
selling Artima supermarket chain to Carrefour for 55 million euros,
has signed the acquisition contract for discount retailer Profi.
The transaction amounted to 66 million euros and marks the return
of an investment fund to food retail, less than two years after the
exits made by Enterprise Investors and Global Finance in this
sector. The Profi chain was put up for sale this year, with two
investment funds and Belgian group Delhaize, operator of Mega Image
supermarkets left in the race, according to market sources. The
franchisee of the Profi chain on the Romanian market, Profi Rom
Food, is controlled indirectly by businessman Jean Marc Hendrix,
who holds store chains on other European markets, as well.
Profi
Rom Food currently has around 60 operating stores, and last year
reported a 94.5 million-euro turnover to the Ministry of Finance,
and a 0.2 million-euro net profit. The sale of the 60-store
discount chain is the deal of the year in retail, on a market
dominated by German and French chains, which are also calling the
shots in Europe.