Serbian Retailer Delta Maxi Completes Take-over of Bulgarian Peer Piccadilly

"With this additional investment by Delta Maxi we demonstrate our long-term commitment to the company [Piccadilly] and to the Bulgarian market," Delta Maxi's executive director Dragan Filipovic said in a statement.

Delta Maxi bought 85% of Piccadilly in 2007 for an undisclosed sum. The company has since invested 70 million euro ($100.4 million) to grow Piccadilly's outlet footprint across Bulgaria and has earmarked an additional 150 million euro for further expansion, Piccadilly said in the statement.

Piccadilly has 20 supermarkets with an area of 2,000 to 4,000 square metres in 10 Bulgarian cities and also operates three outlets under its smaller-sized Piccadilly Express format. The company estimates its current market share on the hypermarket/supermarket segment at 15%.

"The investment gives us the opportunity to unfold Piccadilly's competitive advantages, to develop new brands and continue our successful expansion on the Bulgarian market," Piccadilly executive director Aleksander Camparevic said in the statement.

Piccadilly's main competitors on the Bulgarian retail market are the local units of France's Carrefour, Germany's Kaufland, Metro Cash & Carry, Lidl and HIT, Lithuania's Maxima and smaller Bulgarian players like Fantastiko. No data is available on the market share of those retailers. Germany's Penny Market has also announced plans to enter the local market in 2009.

($=0.697 euro)