Ahold Delhaize to sell 87 Romanian stores to AuGust?

Ahold Delhaize has received a bid by Romanian convenience store chain AuGust to take over 87 Profi and Mega Image stores. The Romanian Competition Council had demanded that the Dutch retailer sold these stores as part of its acquisition of the Profi chain.

History with Profi and Mega Image

Local businessman Gabriel Sandu currently operates eleven AuGust shops in Bucharest through his company Pronto August. Sandu told local news website Economica.net that negotiations are still at an early stage. In 2015, he also negotiated to take over three Mega Image shops – then also to avoid antitrust issues – but that deal fell through in the end.

Romania’s competition watchdog had given the takeover by Ahold Delhaize a conditional green light earlier this month. That was a moment of relief for the retail giant, which had already started the whole process more than a year earlier.

Hundred stores

Sandu says he is aiming for a hundred shops for his chain: this deal would bring that strategic goal very close. His chain looks to achieve a 20 % sales growth in 2024: this would take it past the forty million lei or eight million euro mark.

Sandu made his fortune by starting phone store chain GSM Proton, making it big and then selling it to Vodafone. He also managed fifteen Carrefour Expres shops, making him the French retailer’s largest Romanian franchisee, but in 2021 he sold ten of them to Profi.