March 4 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian supermarket chain Fantastico, operated by local company Van Holding, is investing some 51 million levs ($29.0 million/26.1 million euro) in the opening of three new stores, its newly-appointed CEO Svetoslav Gavrilov said.
With 13.7 million levs of the sum, VAT excluded, Fantastico has already financed the opening of a new store in Sofia, Gavrilov said in an interview published on the website of Fantastico earlier this week.
The new store, spreading on 2,281 sq m, was opened last week.
Fantastico is currently working on two other expansion projects - the opening of its first store in the town of Bankya, near Sofia, which will start operating in the summer of 2020 as well as its first store in the city of Pernik, 30 km south of Sofia, which is expected to open at the beginning of 2021, the CEO said.
At the same time, the supermarket chain is modernising its existing locations, with the revamp of the Fantastico supermarket in the city of Kyustendil and another one located in Sofia's SkyCity Mall forthcoming, the CEO added.
The Fantastico supermarket chain consists of 42 stores in Sofia, Kyustendil and Elin Pelin. It employs over 3,100 people.
Van Holding is fully owned by private investor Valery Nikolov, according to commercial register data.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)