Ahold Delhaize has found a buyer for the 87 Romanian supermarkets it was planning to sell, the Belgian-Dutch retail group announced in a statement on Monday. The stores will now be operated by the Romanian company Annabella, it said.
Two years ago, Ahold Delhaize signed an agreement to acquire the Profi supermarket chain from European investment fund MidEuropa for €1.3 billion. The deal covered just over 1,700 stores.
The Romanian competition authority gave the green light, but required Ahold Delhaize to divest 87 stores: 82 belonging to the Profi chain and five from Mega Image, another Romanian chain owned by Ahold Delhaize and represented by a lion in its logo, like Delhaize.
The financial details of the agreement have not been disclosed.
The transaction is expected to be completed this year.
