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Romania’s fastest-growing food retailer
Taking advantage of shifting consumer shopping behaviour, the company re-designed its store formats and accelerated its rollout nationwide
| COUNTRY |
Romania |
RETURN | 6.7x |
| GP | Enterprise Investors | GROWTH | 6x more stores |
| INVESTMENT | EUR 76.4 million | EMPLOYMENT | 9,523 new jobs |
| SECTOR | Food retail | INVESTMENT TYPE | Buyout and growth |
| INVESTMENT | March 2010 | FUND OWNERSHIP | 100% |
| EXIT | February 2017 | EXIT ROUTE | Sale to a PE house |
Investment rationale
Enterprise Investors (EI) saw a steady shift in consumer behaviour towards frequent shopping for smaller quantities, coupled with market consolidation and the demise of traditional independent retail. EI spotted the opportunity to develop Profi from its initial discounter model into a modern proximity supermarket with improved assortment and store layout, thus positioning it in a segment that was bound to develop further. Favourable real estate market conditions supported the case for an investment where value was to be created by rolling out the store network across Romania.
Deal history and structure
EI acquired 100% of the share capital of Profi Group from its Belgian owner. The aggregate value of the investment was EUR 76.4 million, of which EUR 66.4 million was contributed at closing and a further EUR 10 million was provided to finance growth and M&A activity.
In this section
Private Equity in CEE: Creating Value and Continued Growth
Invest Europe
The report offers an in-depth study of private equity’s role in innovation and economic development across Central and Eastern Europe through detailed case studies of companies backed by private equity investors during 2015-2019.