H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) one of the most popular clothing retailers in the world, whose business reaches 10 billion euros a year, is in advanced talks with Anchor Group, the developer of the two important malls in Bucharest, Plaza Romania and Bucuresti Mall, and is supposed to open at least one store this year, sources on the market say.

"An agreement between the two has already been signed and the closing of the contract is only a matter of time," says one of the sources, adding that H&M is currently in talks with several malls in Bucharest and in the rest of the country.

Neither H&M nor Anchor Group management provided any comment on the information.

Even though announcing they have no concrete plans for Romania, the representatives of H&M have had meetings with several owners of shopping centres since last year to gather information on rent, sales in shopping centres and available space.

"They need a lot of space, several thousand square metres and are interested in all malls in Bucharest," an apparel retailer explained.

With its 1,500 stores worldwide, H&M rivals Zara, which is already present in Romania in the most important shopping centres such as Plaza Romania, Bucuresti Mall, Baneasa Shopping City, Unirea Shopping Center and AFI Palace Cotroceni.