Despite the news that appeared at the end of the summer about the termination of the search for commercial real estate in Lithuania, the German low-price retail chain "Aldi" did not give up the idea of entering Lithuania, although it stopped the active search for plots.
Unnamed sources for the portal vz.lt say that "Aldi" in Lithuania may have different development strategies - one of them is to acquire a retail network already operating in the country.
Among the potential candidates for the acquisition, experts name the "Iki" and "Norfos" retail chains.
Darius Klimašauskas, director of the financial sector consulting company "Talisman", said to vz.lt that the operating model of "Aldi" would be closer to "Norfa" than "Iki", but both chains may be too big to start with - they have significantly more stores than Aldi identified as the optimal number for the first stage of development.
Experts do not rule out the possibility that Aldi may seek to acquire market players with several dozen stores.
Portal vz.lt announced in March that Aldi is coming to Lithuania and plans to open at least 15 stores in the country within a year. Then it was written that unlike the competitor "Lidl", "Aldi" has planned a fast and aggressive expansion in Lithuania.
Vz.lt then wrote that "Aldi" can enter Lithuania either on its own or acquire an already operating player in the trade market.
One of Aldi's main international competitors is another German retail chain Lidl, which has been operating in Lithuania for almost five years and has 22 stores in 54 cities.
