Maxima Grupė took over the control of Aldik Nova last month, thus closing a deal that had been launched at the end of 2011, the company said in a press release on Tuesday. It did not disclose the value of the deal.
"The acquisition of the retail chain is in line with our strategy of expansion to foreign countries. We will get to know the Polish retail market better by managing the chain. Our major strategic directions for 2012 remain unchanged: the group continues to plan moderate expansion abroad," Maxima Grupė CEO Mindaugas Bagdonavičius said in the press release.
Maxima Grupė took over Aldik Nova's 21 stores in the voivodships (provinces) of Lublin and Podkarpackie, as well as a bakery and a pastry-making unit. The total area of Aldik stores amounts to over 25,000 square meters. The company employs 700 people.
Žydrūnas Valkeris has been appointed as director of Aldik Nova. Valkeris has lately headed Aibės Mažmena, a company that is associated with Maxima Grupė's shareholders, the group's spokesman, Giedrius Juozapavičius, told BNS.
According to media reports, most of Aldik Nova's stores are not large. The Polish company's strategy is to expand in residential neighborhoods and in big urban malls.
Vilniaus Prekyba, which is 53 percent owned by its president, Nerijus Numavičius, holds 99.5 percent of shares in Maxima Grupė.
Maxima Grupė now owns 485 stores in five countries, including 220 in Lithuania, 136 in Latvia, 66 in Estonia, 42 in Bulgaria, and 21 in Poland. The group employs a workforce of over 28,000 people.
