RTPR, alongside MidEuropa Partners and Profi in the EUR 1.3bln exit

RTPR has assisted the private equity fund MidEuropa Partners on the sale of Profi, in the largest transaction in the retail sector ever concluded in Romania. Profi is Romania’s leading convenience and proximity supermarket chain, with a network of more than 1,650 stores, operated both directly and in partner system, with Super, City, Go and Loco as main formats. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in 2024.

Costin Tărăcilă (Managing Partner) had the overall coordination role, with Marina Fechetă-Giurgică (Managing Associate) coordinating due diligence and transaction streams and Roxana Ionescu (Partner) handling the complex competition aspects of the deal. The impeccable input of more than 10 other RTPR team members was instrumental to the role played by RTPR on the transaction. Advisors to MidEuropa included: Citigroup Global Markets Limited, White & Case and Ernst & Young.

“We are extremely excited to announce this new transaction of such magnitude. I would like to thank MidEuropa Partners and Profi Rom Food for their excellent collaboration, we are honoured to have supported you throughout this long and intricate process. I would also like to congratulate and thank all our colleagues who were part of our fantastic project team for the many hours of hard work!

This is our third sell side mandate with Profi as target, this being the largest private equity deal in Romania to date. Back in 2016, the sale of Profi to MidEuropa Partners was also a record-breaking deal, being at that time the largest private equity deal in our country’s history”, declared Costin Taracila, Managing Partner of RTPR.

This marks the third time RTPR has acted as sell side legal advisor in Profi’s successful exit stories. In 2016 RTPR advised the private equity fund Enterprise Investors on the sale of Profi supermarket chain to Mid Europa Partners, in a transaction with a value of EUR 533 million, at the time the largest deal ever completed by a private equity fund in Romania and the largest deal in the retail sector in the country’s history. The law firm was also involved in the 2009 transaction, this time acting for the founder of Profi Rom Food, for the sale of its 65 stores to Enterprise Investors in a transaction worth EUR 66 million.

“Profi’s growth story, with milestones at 65, 484 and over 1,650 stores upon each of the three exits, puts all of us in awe. We’ve been extremely excited for being a part of this transaction and we are looking forward to successfully bring it to close. We thank MidEuropa Partners for their trust. Definitely not least, this felt like going beyond an external advisor role and for that I would like to thank the Profi team”, said Marina Fechetă-Giurgică, Managing Associate at RTPR.

Roxana Ionescu, Partner RTPR stated: “This is beyond words. The largest supermarkets network in Romania bringing to the largest PE deal to date and the largest grocery deal. I couldn't be more humbled and grateful to be part for the third time in the successful story of Profi.”