Carrefour store in Bulgaria's Stara Zagora listed for sale at 11.6 mln euro | Progresiv
A Carrefour-branded hypermarket owned by CMB Bulgaria, a unit of Greece's Marinopoulos Group, has been put up for sale by a private enforcement agent at a starting price of 22.68 million leva (11.6 million euro), a sale notice showed. 
The hypermarket, located in a shopping mall in the city of Stara Zagora, has an area of 9,255 sq m, according to the notice published on the website of the Bulgarian chamber of private enforcement agents.
In June, Greek media reported that Marinopoulos Group has filed for bankruptcy protection in Greece.
Marinopoulos, which became Carrefour's exclusive franchisee in southeast Europe in 2012 after the French retailer exited the 50/50 Carrefour Marinopoulos joint venture, had ambitious expansion plans for Bulgaria and the whole region. However, its financial difficulties started surfacing out already in 2014, with more and more goods disappearing from the shelves of its supermarkets throughout Bulgaria.
In late 2014, CMB Bulgaria, the local unit of Marinopoulos, and peer AP Mart, which runs the Piccadilly store chain, agreed to merge their supermarket operations in a 50/50 joint venture. In July 2015, CMB said it would not proceed with the planned merger, but would continue to operate its chain autonomously instead, with a new experienced management team, which would enforce an action plan to continue with the development of its operations.
However, earlier this year, private enforcement agents put up for sale two Carrefour supermarkets, located in shopping malls in Bulgaria's capital Sofia, seeking a total of 45.3 million levs (23.2 million euros) over unpaid debts. In mid-June, local media reported that Carrefour is exiting another key Sofia mall, where it had rented a store.
In SEE, Marinopoulos runs Carrefour stores also in Albania and Macedonia. (www.seenews.com)
