Carrefour, one of Europe’s largest food retailers, has officially announced that it is selling its entire business in Romania to Pavăl Holding, the investment company owned by Romanian entrepreneurs Dragoș and Adrian Pavăl.
The two brothers are best known as the founders of Dedeman, Romania’s leading home improvement and DIY retail chain.
The deal, valued at approximately EUR823m, represents one of the most significant changes in the Romanian retail market in recent years.
Through this transaction, Pavăl Holding will acquire Carrefour’s entire Romanian operation, which includes a total network of 478 stores across the country. This portfolio comprises 55 hypermarkets, 191 supermarkets, 202 convenience stores, and 30 discount outlets.
Despite its strong local presence, the French retailer’s decision to sell is part of a broader strategic shift. Over the past year, Carrefour has been reviewing its international portfolio and increasingly concentrating its efforts on core markets such as France, Brazil, and Spain, while divesting from countries considered less strategic for long-term growth.
Carrefour entered Romania in the early 2000s and quickly became one of the key international players in the local grocery sector. Over the past two decades, the company expanded steadily, building a nationwide presence and competing directly with other major chains such as Kaufland, Lidl, Auchan and Mega Image.
Carrefour played an important role in shaping Romania’s modern retail landscape, introducing large-scale hypermarket formats and expanding into smaller urban convenience concepts.
For Pavăl Holding, the acquisition marks a major diversification beyond Dedeman’s traditional focus on construction materials, furniture and home improvement products. Dedeman is widely regarded as one of Romania’s most successful locally founded businesses, and this move signals the Pavăl brothers’ ambition to become an even stronger force in Romanian retail by entering the food and grocery sector for the first time on such a large scale.
The transaction remains subject to approval by Romania’s competition authorities and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2026. If finalized, it will mark Carrefour’s full withdrawal from Romania and the beginning of a new chapter for one of the country’s largest retail networks under Romanian ownership.