Belgian Food Retailer Delhaize Group Sells Bulgarian Picadilly Chain

Belgium-based food retailer Delhaize Group announced on its website that it had signed an agreement for the sale of its business in Bulgaria with AP Mart on Wednesday.

In Bulgaria, Delhaize Group owns the Piccadilly chain of stores, which it acquired in 2011 from Serbian retailer Delta Maxi Group for EUR 932.5 M, according to reports of investor.bg.

The deal value has not been disclosed so far and no extra information about the buyer, AP Mart, is available. According to preliminary reports of dnevnik.bg, the new owner is a Bulgarian company.

The deal is to be finalized in the second quarter of 2014 and is to be approved by the respective regulatory bodies.

The Piccadilly chain includes 28 supermarkets of the Picadilly brand (6 of them in Varna, 16 in Sofia and 1 in Plovdiv, Burgas, Veliko Tarnovo, Lovech, Vidin and Gabrovo), as well as 24 stores of the Piccadilly Daily brand (20 in Sofia and 4 in Varna).

Delhaize Group operates in nine countries on three continents. In end-2013, the retail network of the group included 3534 stores. The Belgian food retailer reported revenues of EUR 21.1 B in 2013.

In end-2012, Delhaize Group had a total staff of around 158 000.

Its shares are listed on NYSE Euronext Brussels and on the New York Stock Exchange.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!