French retail group Auchan has announced that it is to invest €100 million into its operations in Romania this year.
According to a statement released by the company, it has already spent €40 million revamping and re-opening former Real stores under the Auchan brand.
Romania-Insider.com reported that these investments include work on the Coresi center in Brasov, and work on a project in the Drumul Taberei neighborhood of Bucharest.
The retailer is currently working on two hypermarkets, one in Brasov, within the Coresi project, and one in Bucharest. The Coresi project, developed by Auchan’s real estate arm Imochan, should be ready in 2015.
The project in Drumul Taberei in Bucharest, a €70 million investment in total, will include a hypermarket and offices. Work is currently at an advanced stage, with the hypermarket’s possible opening set for December this year, and the whole project finished in the first half of 2015.
Auchan bought competitor Real, a subsidiary of Metro Group, in late 2012.
In related news, Auchan Poland chairman Francois Colombie told regional newspaper Portal Spozywczy that a number of acquisitions need to be made in the country to continue with the retailer's expansion plans.
Colombie said that Auchan aim to open 2 large hypermarkets/shopping centre concepts every year in the Eastern European country over the next few years.
© 2014 - European Supermarket Magazine by Enda Dowling
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