The overall floor space of these pieces of property is about 200,000 square meters. The annual sales of the Auchan hypermarkets and of the other tenants are estimated at EUR400 million to EUR500 million. Annual rent revenue stands at some EUR30 million.
This is one of the most important deals signed on the local market and reinforces the French group’s commitment to Romania, while Germany’s Real is about to leave, Praktiker went to businessman Omer Susli, do-it-yourself retailer Bricostore was sold to UK’s Kingfisher and some other retail chain owners are thinking of selling.
Auchan, which bought 20 of the 24 Real hypermarkets in Romania from Germany’s Metro last year, has now decided to buy the shopping galleries where 12 of these stores operate to get rid of the ‘burden’ of rent negotiated and put in long-term agreements during the boom days of the local economy.
These projects were developed via Cyprus-based companies, serving as fronts for a number of businesspeople that owned land on the outskirts of the biggest cities in Romania.
Such a project costs EUR20 million to EUR25 million, depending on size, location and purchasing power of the respective cities. The properties involved in the Auchan deal are located in Bucharest (Pallady and Berceni), Timisoara (north and south), Satu Mare, Oradea, Baia Mare, Cluj, Pitesti, Ploiesti, Constanta and Galati.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)