German REWE's Discount Retailer Penny Market To Wrap up 100 Mln Euro Investment in Bulgaria by Year's End

The company has already opened 14 stores in the Balkan country, most of which in smaller towns, it said in a statemet made available to SeeNews on Monday.

"By the end of 2010, the network of Penny Market will reach 50 stores," it said.

The group opened in early October a 15 million euro logistics centre in Stolnik, 25 kilometres east of Sofia.

"Through Bulgaria, Penny Market considerably expands its international representation towards southeast Europe. Thus Bulgaria acquires strategic importance for us," Penny Market board member Armin Reberg said in the statement.

Penny Market is present in seven European states - Germany, Autsria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. The company has 3,500 outlets, 38,000 employees and annual turnover of 9.5 billion euro.

REWE set foot in Bulgaria in 2000 by opening supermarkets under the Billa brand.

Penny Market competes in the country of 7.6 million people with discount retailer Plus, part of German group Tengelmann, and discount supermarket chain Lidl, part of another German group, Schwarz.

($ = 0.6684 euro)