August 26 (SeeNews) - Romanian retailer Profi said on Friday it has opened six new stores - in the towns of Sebes, Talmaciu, Teius, Timisoara si Suceava and in the village of Nusfalau - expanding its retail network to a total of 439 stores.
The six new stores cover a total area of 2,809 sq m, the company said in a press release.
Only in August, Profi opened 15 stores in both rural and urban areas.
Profi has almost 10,000 employees in stores in 212 towns and is currently the retail chain with the biggest geographical coverage in Romania.
In March, it said that its three-year plan envisages opening at least 100 stores per year, backed by a 177 million lei ($44.8 million/39.7 million euro) loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Raiffeisen Bank.
Profi Rom Food, which operates the Profi chain, is owned by Polish Enterprise Fund VI, a private equity fund managed by Enterprise Investors.
At the end of May the fund said that it plans to evaluate strategic options regarding the future development Profi supermarket chain which it bought in 2009.
The equity fund has contracted Citi Corporate and Investment Banking to assess market conditions and scenarios for the future development of the company.
In 2009, Enterprise Investments bought Profi Rom Food, which operates Profi, for 66 million euro ($67.1 million) and invested another 10 million euro in 2011.
(1 euro = 4.4568 Romanian lei)