Carrefour Romania, the division of French Carrefour Group plans to open seven new hypermarkets every year, and to number about 40 new units by 2012, the Ziarul financiar reads on July 21 quoting sources of Hyparlo Company, a part of the French retailer.

Analysts expect enlargement investments to reach 450 million euros over 2009-2012.
Carrefour chain tries to preserve its top position among the hypermarkets, given that newcomers Real and Kaufland top it in terms of stores number.

The market share in this segment will attain about 50% in 2012, says Hyparlo, the company managing the Carrefour hypermarkets in Romania.
Operating in Romania since 2001, the Carrefour chain aims at exceeding the sale threshold of 1 billion euros late this year.

The Romanian economy saw an 8.6% rise in the first half of the year, because of a good agricultural year, and if the GDP growth rate and the investment dynamics are preserved, Romania could become one of the top ten EU countries by 2020 in terms of economic strength, according to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Varujan Vosganian. “We have not had such a high economic growth for at least twenty years. It is hard to compare this with the time before ‘89, but these are record levels for the period since the introduction of the GDP index,” said Vosganian.

In the first quarter of the year, the GDP climbed 8.2%, while the growth rate recorded in the second quarter of the year amounted to 8.9%. The MEF official said Romania could climb to the 12th position in the ranking of European states in terms of GDP, from the 17th place at present.

HSBC’s European Active Real Estate Fund has completed its first property deal in Romania.

The fund has purchased a 50% stake in the Expo Market Doraly trade counter and warehouse park in Bucharest, Romania, for €104m (£82m).

The fund has closed with €450m (£355m) of equity.

The scheme comprises 592,000 sq ft of commercial space including showroom, warehousing, and has a further 376,740 sq ft at various stages of development. There are currently about 800 tenants at the park, which is on both sides of the DN2 highway, eight kilometres east of Bucharest.

Matthew Hunt, fund manager at HSBC’s Specialist Fund Management, said: ‘The site is already well-established among the local wholesaler community not just in Bucharest but further afield within Romania too, and we intend to help our partners realise the full potential of this strategically located park, which will improve further on completion of planned ring-road improvements to provide an exceptional trading environment’

‘This acquisition is very much in line with our strategy for investing in real estate-focused assets in the wider Balkan region, and will hopefully be the first of many value-added deals we complete