Discounter Penny has received a capital injection of around €160 million from its parent company, Germany's REWE Group, to accelerate development in Romania, according to local media reports.
News outlet Ziarul Financiar reported that the investment is one of the largest to date received by a domestic player in Romania's retail market, and will be used to open between 35 and 40 new stores in 2023.
This is set to be the fastest pace of store openings since Penny entered the market.
Romania Market Presence
As of the end of 2022, Penny had a portfolio of 336 stores in Romania, following 36 openings and one closure.
Penny is among the few companies that have announced an acceleration of development in the Romanian market, along with Carrefour, while other players are slowing down expansion, Ziarul Financiar said.
Rewe Projektentwicklung România SRL, the company that operates Penny's real estate investments in Romania, received the first investment of €80 million in December 2022, followed by another similar amount in January 2023.
The recent acceleration in Penny's development in Romania is significant, as it represents almost twice the average pace of the last decade.
Growth In Italy
Elsewhere, in Italy, REWE Group's Penny banner is seeking to achieve a 8% share of the discounter market by 2025.
By the mid part of the decade, the retailer is also hoping to achieve a turnover of €2 billion, and operate around 500 stores, it said in February.
Read More: Penny Italia Targeting 8% Share Of Discount Market By 2025
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