Unicarm is one of the most powerful entrepreneurial businesses in Romanian retail sector, having posted 650 million lei (EUR142 million) revenue in 2016. The business that Vasile Lucut built includes retail and manufacturing operations. Unicarm has about 100 stores mostly in the center, north and west of the country.
“There’s been lots of stories, as you know,” says Vasile Lucut, Unicarm owner, about a potential sale.
The group owns cold cuts, dairy plants and industrial bakeries in Romania, as well as a store chain. Its own stores generate 30% or 40% of the total revenue, while the rest comes from the sales to other foreign or Romanian retailers, as Vasile Lucut has previously said.
Profi and Mega Image are two of the sharks in local retail, each having bought small and medium-sized local retailers before.
“Profi has been looking at all retail actors on the market for a long time. We just want to be around owners when they decide to part with their business,” says Daniel Cirstea, Profi CEO. Mega Image on the other hand, turned down the request for comment on the information. (EUR1=RON4.5873)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)