Local retailer Succes buys four of the Pic hypermarkets

Four of the insolvent Pic hypermarkets, will be taken over by Succes, a retail network owned by businessman Nicolae Sarcina from Gorj. The Pic hypermarkets, which are owned by businessmen Ilie and Cornel Penescu, entered insolvency in November 2009, after acquiring debts worth EUR 76 million.

The stores will be bought in monthly installments over the next 3 years, PwCRomania, Pic’s judicial administrator has announced.

Pic has already rented its stores in Pitesti and Craiova and reopened them under the Succes brand, according to PwC. The hypermarkets in Oradea and Calarasi will be reopened soon under the Success brand, while the hypermarket in Braila, which was not part of the current transaction, might be reopened later on, under the Succes brand, or a different one.

The plan allows for the complete recovery of all the debts owned by PIC towards its former employees and towards the state budget. Also, the plan provides the main creditors a complete recovery of all their debt covered with real guarantees, while ensuring unguaranteed creditors a 7 percent recovery rate.

“The Pic insolvency file was a highly complex issue, with the total amount of debt reaching 333.7million RON towards almost 700 different creditors. It required an impressive amount of work from our team and we are very pleased to see that, after a long period of negotiations with all the stakeholders, we have put up a plan that monetizes in an optimal way the assets of the company for the creditors, puts back in the economic circuit the former Pic stores and creates new jobs”, stated Marius Zidaru, director, Business Recovery Services Leader, PwC Romania.