CMS advises Ahold Delhaize on the landmark acquisition of Profi Rom Food in Romania

International law firm CMS has advised Ahold Delhaize on its agreement to acquire leading Romanian grocery retailer Profi Rom Food S.R.L. from MidEuropa, in a transaction worth approximately EUR 1.3bn. This deal is set to add more than 1,650 stores in urban and rural areas to Ahold Delhaize’s existing Romanian business, which operates under the Mega Image brand and boasts over 960 stores predominantly in urban areas.

Ahold Delhaize is one of the world’s largest food retail groups and a leader in both supermarkets and e-commerce. The group owns 19 local brands and over 7,650 local stores, serving over 60 million shoppers every week in Europe, the United States and Indonesia.

Profi, with more than 28,000 employees in Romania, is known for its broad product range. In the 12 months ending June 2023, the company generated EUR 2.5bn in sales.

CMS advised Ahold Delhaize on most Romanian and English law aspects of the transaction, including but not limited to the due diligence exercise and the structuring and negotiation of all the transaction documents. The transaction is expected to close in 2024 and is subject to competition regulatory clearances.

“We are honoured to have advised Ahold Delhaize on this strategic and landmark acquisition in the Romanian food retail sector, which will extend their market coverage in Romania. This deal proves once again Romania’s attractiveness as a market,” said Managing Partner of CMS Romania and Head of CEE Corporate M&A Horea Popescu.

The multidisciplinary CMS team advising Ahold Delhaize was led by Horea Popescu and Claudia Nagy (Corporate and M&A) on Romanian law matters and Eva Talmacsi (Corporate and M&A, CMS UK) on English law matters, with invaluable support from partner Roxana Fratila (Real Estate), counsel Raluca Ionescu (Corporate and M&A) and senior associate Kristin Shelley (Tax, CMS UK). The wider team included more than 20 other lawyers from the Romanian and UK offices.