The company did not specify the value of the transaction, which was closed Monday.
Constanta-based Search Chemicals was established in 2003, operates in constructions sector and is 95% owned by Susli, former chairman of the Association of Turkish Businesspeople in Romania. It reported a turnover of RON45.3 million and a net profit of RON1.7 million in 2012, and employs 12 people.
Last week, Praktiker also sold its operations in Ukraine where it managed four stores.
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 parent company, went insolvent in 2013.
The company’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.
Praktiker’s competitors on the Romanian market are Ambient, bauMax, Dedeman, Hornbach, Mr. Bricolage, OBI, Kingfisher and Leroy Merlin.