Profi is a chain of

supermarkets A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limit ...

and

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

s with over 1.600 locations in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

owned by

Mid Europa Partners MidEuropa is an independent private equity player in Central and Eastern Europe focused on Central and Eastern Europe with approximately €5.3 billion of assets under management. Strategy MidEuropa seeks to take controlling stakes in its inve ...

History

Belgium and Luxembourg

Profi discount store network was founded in 1979 in Belgium by the

Louis Delhaize Group The Louis Delhaize Group is a Belgian retail group established in 1875 by Louis Delhaize. The principal activity is the operation of food supermarkets and hypermarkets in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Romania. On February 23, 2022, Louis Delh ...

. The supermarket chain consisted of 130 discount supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg. In 2001 to avoid the bankruptcy of chain, Louis Delhaize Group merged Profi with the

Match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

supermarket network and began rebranding 62 supermarkets in Belgium and 14 in Luxembourg in Smatch supermarket, while the rest of the stores were closed.

Hungary

Profi entered in Hungary as the first discount supermarkets chain in 1991. The chain has developed in the eastern half of the country. In November 2012, Louis Delhaize Group sold

and Profi chains in Hungary. From a total of 178 supermarkets, of which 73 Profi discount supermarkets, most of them was sold to local retailers, 62 to

Coop Coop, COOP, Co-op, or ''variation'', most often refers to: * A chicken coop or other enclosure * Cooperative or co-operative ("co-op"), an association of persons who cooperate for their mutual social, economic, and cultural benefit ** Housing co ...

and 48 to CBA, and other 6 to

Penny Market Penny or internationally Penny Market (in Bavaria and Austria ''Penny Markt'') is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany, which operates 3,550 stores. The market was founded by Leibbrand Gruppe in 1973; since 1989, it has been fully o ...

, 4 to

Aldi Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...

, 2 to

Pepco The Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO) is an American utility company that supplies electric power to the city of Washington, D.C. and to surrounding communities in Maryland. It is owned by Exelon. The company's current trademarked slogan i ...

and 1 to

Spar SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well, ...

Romania

Louis Delhaize Group opened first discount supermarket in Romania on 29 June 2000, in

Timișoara ), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor) , image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg , map_caption = Location in Timiș County , pushpin_map = Romania#Europe , pushpin_ ...

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

, southwestern

. The network was developed in the northwestern part of the country. The 67 discount supermarkets operated in Romania were bought in 2009 and further developed into a nationwide supermarket chain by Polish Enterprise Fund VI (PEF VI), a private equity fund administered by Enterprise Investors (EI). Since 2010, the chain began a rapid growth nationwide. In 2013, the chain opened the first

s under the brand Profi City. In the rural areas were opened supermarkets and from 2015 local shops under the brand Profi Loco. At the end of 2016, before the sale, the network reached 500 locations. In November 2016, Profi was bought by the investing group MEP Retail Investments, part of the Mid Europa Partners, for €533 million. Profi network reached 1000 locations on May 17, 2019. In 2022, Profi reached 1600 stores, of which 800 in Agent management.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Profi Romania
Supermarkets of Belgium Supermarkets of Hungary Supermarkets of Romania