Polish Enterprise Fund VII, a private equity fund managed by Enterprise Investors (EI), has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of shares in CBA Slovakia a.s., an independent food retailer in Slovakia. The total value of the transaction has not been disclosed. As part of the deal, EI will provide €16 million additional equity funding to deleverage the business and finance expansion.
CBA Slovakia operates a network of 310 convenience food stores and proximity supermarkets in Western and Central Slovakia and is one of the largest independently owned food retailers in the country, ranked right behind international chains. The company was created by Mr. Marián Šufliarsky and further developed by his son Marián Šufliarsky Jr., under whose stewardship a large number of the stores were refurbished to modern standards and a new supermarket format was developed. CBA Slovakia is also the leading company in the CBA buying alliance, the second largest food retail buying alliance in Slovakia. In 2016 the company’s revenues reached €130 million.
“We intend to support the company in its ambitious plan to modernize the existing network and significantly expand it in the future, while serving customers with good quality, local and fresh food products closer to their homes”, added Martin Chocholáček, Slovakia Country Director at EI.
Since 1990 EI has invested €173 million in five food retail chains in the CEE region (including the CBA Slovakia acquisition).
Enterprise Investors was advised in this transaction by White & Case (legal), PwC (tax and accounting) and GHS Legal. KPMG Corporate Finance acted as the seller’s lead advisor, with Hillbridges (legal) and KPMG (tax and accounting) as additional counsel.
Photo: MTI / Péter Komka
