Entrepreneur Alexandru Rabanca (37), who brought the Yves Rocher brand in Romania almost two decades ago, has sold the about 40 store business to the French group. The deal, concluded in December 2016, stood at several million euros, according to ZF and did not include anything else but the Yves Rocher store chain in Romania.
Yves Rocher operates in Romania via two companies, one handling the stores and the other the sales by mail and Internet. The French group first arrived in Romania as a franchise in 1999 and Alexandru Rabanca was the one who developed the store network. The group entered directly with mail and Internet sales operations in 2008 and the recent deal gives it control over the retail chain, as well.
Cosmetiques de France, the operator of the store chain, posted 23.5 million lei (EUR5.22 million) sales in 2015. Yves Rocher Romania, on the other hand, posted RON58 million in 2015, according to the latest publicly available data. This company is the new owner of Cosmetiques de France.
This is not the first time a company decides to buy out a franchisee and establish a direct presence on the market. Cosmetics retailer Sephora and Inditex, the owner of fashion retailer Zara, did it, too. (EUR1=RON4.4971)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)