European Convergence Development Company, one of the shareholders of the Era Shopping Centre retail park in Iasi, eastern Romania, said in a report Tuesday a Romanian insolvency practice firm has been designated to sell Praktiker’s local business. Praktiker had planned to open a large store in the retail park , the company said.
Praktiker officials have declined to comment.
The German group has had difficulty in recent years and at the end of 2011 said it was shutting down several stores in Germany, quit the Albanian market and rethinking its international operations. In 2012, Austrian investment firm Maseltov, the company’s biggest shareholders, said it wanted the DIY retailer out of eastern Europe. At that time, Praktiker said it had no plans to leave Romania.
Praktiker AG, the German group’s mother company, entered insolvency in 2013.
Praktiker’s turnover halved in 2012 from the peak of EUR306 million reached in 2008, when it was market leader and the retailer amassed losses of EUR48 million in the past four years.
Praktiker has 27 stores in Romania with a sale area of 184,300 square meters, according to its 2012 financial report. Most stores were open during the real estate boom of 2005-2008.