Italy’s IGD group bought 15 shopping centers built during the communist days in the centers of medium and large cities in Romania in 2008, a little while before the onset of the crisis. On a market dominated by state-of-the-art malls, the Italian group is investing in remodeling to make room for customers like H&M and be able to grow. This year looks set to be the first year of a rebound for Winmarkt, Business Construct magazine’s June issue says.
IGD has invested more than EUR8.5 million in the remodeling of the Winmarkt centers since the beginning of last year, to accommodate a new anchor tenant, H&M. The fashion retailer is now a tenant of five of the 15 Winmarkt centers.
Its investment plan in Romania will not stop at this, with a further EUR5 million planned for 2015-2018.
“Last year’s most important investment projects were the renovation of Omnia and the construction of the tunnel connecting it to Grand Center in Ploiesti (EUR1 million), the construction work in Cluj to make room for a new anchor, Flanco (EUR200,000), and the completion of three sites in Galati (EUR1.5 million), Ramnicu Valcea (EUR2 million) and Piatra Neamt (EUR2.5 million),” says Carlo Barban, 37.
Winmarkt has 15 shopping centers in Romania and an office building, 90,000 square meters in all. The office building has a floor area of only 2,000 square meters.
The Winmarkt network run by Win Magazine only operates in medium and large cities of Romania, excluding Bucharest. Ploiesti is the only city where it has three shopping centers and an office building, while in other cities it only has one such center.
IGD is not considering a new acquisition, but Carlo Barban admits that everything has its price when it comes to an acquisition and a potential sale. The list of priorities does not include selling the operations in Romania until 2018, he says, adding that now is not a good time to sell because the economy is just starting to recover.
IGD bought Winmarkt from private equity fund Broadhurst in 2008, the last year of economic boom. Revenue later declined, reaching EUR8.6 million last year. Barban hopes to see it return to growth this year.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)