Lidl buys Plus Romania retail chain

Plus chain has been operating 96 stores with over 2,000 employees in Romania, and 23 stores with 820 employees in Bulgaria.

“After intense evaluation of all options, we have decided to sell the subsidiaries to the international Lidl group”, explains Karl-Erivan W. Haub, managing and personally liable partner of the Tengelmann Group.

Both Plus subsidiaries are the market leaders in their respective countries. Lidl operates neither in Bulgaria nor Romania. All employees of the Plus subsidiaries will be taken over.

The sale of both national companies is still subject to antitrust approval.

The Tengelmann Group is an international trading group whose subsidiaries include OBI, KiK, Kaiser’s Tengelmann, Plus and A & P. The family business was first founded in 1867 in Mülheim an der Ruhr and is now managed by the 5th successive generation. With 4,357 branches and 83,655 employees in 15 countries, the Group generated sales totaling €12.36 billion in fiscal 2008.

The Tengelmann Group was advised by Alegro Capital in this transaction.

The German-based discount supermarket chain Lidl, member of Schwartz Group has recently acquired a land plot in District 5, Bucharest from Pepsi Americas for around €3.2 billion.

Lidl has been considering move into Romania for a few years but put off its plans to expand its reach into the market due to high property prices.

In spring 2009, Lidl obtained the construction permit for a 4,700 sqm supermarket in Galati.

Lidl operates around 800 stores in Germany, Czech, Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria. In Romania, the company operates Kaufland chain.