Slovenias Mercator To Rent Space In Sofias Mega Mall

Slovenia's largest food retailer Mercator will rent space for a hypermarket in the Mega Mall in Sofia, currently under construction, deal consultant Raiffeisen Imoti, the real estate arm fully-owned Raiffeisenbank's Bulgarian subsidiary, said on November 17, as quoted by Dnevnik daily.Mega Mall is developed by Austria's Real4YOU Immobilien. Its leasable area will be 24 000 sq m, split between more than 100 shops. The area earmarked for the hypermarket is 3054 sq m.With more than 1500 stores in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Mercator plans to expand on the Bulgarian market as well, targeting the bigger cities and towns in the country, Dnevnik said.In February, before the recent downturn in the global financial markets, Mercator said that it would invest 220 to 260 million euro annually between 2008 and 2012, using both its own sources and debt capital.On November 12, the group reported a net profit of 36.4 million euro for the first nine months of the year and a revenue of about two billion euro.