French group Auchan, which in late 2008 entirely took overRomanian stores, changed its expansion strategy and started buyingspace instead of renting it from real estate developers.
"(...) The first two owned stores will be opened in PolusConstanta and Coresi Shopping City Brasov shopping centres," statedPatrick Espasa, general manager of Auchan Romania.
All the seven stores Auchan currently operates in Romania are inrented locations, and the French company may try to also buy partof these stores. As for the project in Constanta, the deal has beenalready completed, while in Brasov the French Auchan and the ownersof Tractorul site are discussing the final details.
The two companies' representatives did not provide any detailsabout the value of the deal, but according to some estimates theFrench firm is likely to pay around 30m euros for the twostores.
"We sealed the acquisition of the Constanta space shortly afterI arrived in Romania (he took the general manager position in April2009), which has sped up work on the project," said Espasa,mentioning investments in the operations of Auchan store ofConstanta would revolve around 20m euros, similar to the oneplanned in Brasov, in Coresi Shopping City project.
On the other hand, Auchan announced it planned to double itsstore network in the following 3-5 years in the wake of investmentsworth around 140m euros in seven new locations.
"We're looking at cities with over 300,000 inhabitants. We'llfurther expand in Bucharest as well, where I see a potential for atotal number of 25 hypermarkets. We're about to sign a contract fora new location in Bucharest," Espasa also said.
Expanding the network to 14 stores in three years may driveAuchan Romania's turnover to over 700m euros in 2012, from the278m-euro level reported in 2008 with six hypermarkets.
Espasa also said Auchan Romania last year witnessed alike-for-like sales increase above inflation.
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