Angst-Carrefour, a cooperation unconfirmed for now

The news of a cooperation between the "Angst" group of companies and major retailer "Carrefour", which has been discussed in the press, is not being fully denied, nor confirmed by the two potential partners.

Sorin Minea, the owner of "Angst", said: "The «Angst» group will remain just the way everyone has come to know it. We are not going to sell anything, Angst won"t disappear, the stores will remain Angst, production will remain ours with the workers that will still be our employees".

When we asked him whether the news launched by retail market sources concerning the cooperation between the two potential partners had any merit, Sorin Minea said: "I do business, we are constantly developing the network. We remain open to a cooperation that would be beneficial to us. Since in any cooperation there are two partners, it is a good thing when they talk. If such a partnership took place, it would be too important for it not to be announced in a well organized environment".

"Angst", a company which has been making charcuterie for over 20 years, launched a new range of products in April 2011 - SantiVia. On this occasion, Sorin Minea announced the opening of 10 new "Angst" stores this year, aside from the 27 ones that the company already owns and a 10% increase in turnover (from 62 million Euros in 2010).

According to Mediafax, the Carrefour group entered the supermarket segment after acquiring Artima, at the end of 2007, a network which owned 21 stores in Western Romania. In 2008, Carrefour remodeled all the supermarkets and rebranded them Carrefour Express. The name was later changed into Carrefour Market, as the French retailer owns about 40 such units across Romania.

Carrefour has been present in Romania for more than 10 years, being the largest hypermarket operator. The representatives of Carrefour could not be contacted on the subject collaboration with Angst.