Maltese investor buys former Pic hypermarket in Oradea

Newsroom 16/01/2014 | 17:44

Western Logistics, part of Maltese Alf. Mizzi & Sons, has bought a hypermarket in Oradea, western Romania, which belongs to now bankrupt local retailer Pic, PricewaterhouseCoopers Business Recovery Services, Pic’s judicial liquidator announced today.

The Oradea hypermarket will soon be converted into a logistic center, with the new owner already working to set it up and to rent all or part of it for small manufacturing, storage and distribution, and logistics companies as well as for office space, announced PwC in a press release.

“The transaction was completed in the context of a difficult real-estate market, with low levels of liquidity, especially for assets worth several million Euros. The buyer was identified through the global PwC network”, said Cristian Ravasila, senior manager, business recovery services team leader, PwC Romania.

“We are very pleased to have completed this transaction. We believe that the Romanian market offers attractive opportunities for development of industrial parks, especially for logistic centers located in western Romania, with fast and easy access to the Central European market”, said Jonathan Diamantino, managing director of Western Logistics SRL.

Pic went bankrupt in 2012 and still owns four hypermarkets in Pitesti, Braila, Craiova and Calarasi.

Alf. Mizzi & Sons Ltd runs activities in a wide range of sectors, including real-estate, distribution, retail, advertising, tourism, manufacturing and media.

Simona Bazavan