Altex Romania will develop in the following year the DIY chain Brico Dépôt by securing ownership of the rented stores, upgrading the entire chain, and opening three to five new stores per year after the transition year 2026, Altex founder, main shareholder, and CEO Dan Ostahie announced after his company took over the do-it-yourself chain from Kingfischer, Ziarul Financiar reported.
The EUR 70 million deal was partly financed by a EUR 43 million loan from Raiffeisen Romania, 50% backed under a risk-participation facility by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
Kingfisher Group announced in May that it had completed the transaction through which it sold Brico Dépôt Romania, one of the major players of the local DIY and home improvement market, to the electro-IT retailer Altex, controlled by businessman Dan Ostahie. The transaction, signed at the end of last year, was approved by the Competition Council.
Altex has thus taken over a network of about 30 Brico Dépôt stores, ten of which are owned and another 20 are rented. The market leader Dedeman operates 64 stores.
Brico Dépôt, which operates locally through the company Bricostore Romania, ended 2024 with a turnover of RON 1.5 billion (EUR 300 million), down 2% compared to the previous year and a eighth of Dedeman’s turnover. Over the past years, it accumulated RON 1.5 billion of losses.
Last year, Altex achieved business of RON 7.7 billion (EUR 1.5 billion), up 9% and net profit of RON 380 million, being the undisputed leader of Romanian electroIT, with a network of over 135 stores.
Altex has relied on EBRD financing for development in the past.
The company contracted a loan from the EBRD in 2024, worth EUR 26 million, to finance a 55,000 sq m warehouse near Bucharest. In 2020, it borrowed EUR 12 million from the EBRD to expand the logistics centre in Dragomirești Vale, near Bucharest, a project launched in 2018.
iulian@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: the company)
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