Gunter Grieb leaves Profi after just one year

German-born Gunter Grieb, one of the best-known executives in retail, who laid the foundations of the Kaufland chain on the Romanian market in 2003-2005, has resigned from his position at the helm of Profi after just one year, and announced he was leaving Romania.

“I am going back to Germany in order to focus more on my own real estate business, but I don’t rule out coming back to Romanian retail in the future. At present, however, trade is no longer an attractive sector in Romania, I think this sector will see a lot of restructuring and takeovers over the next few years,” Grieb told ZF.
His position as general manager of the Profi operator, with 140 million euros in turnover, will be filled by Pawel Musial, company representatives announced at the end of last week. He has been working at Enterprise Investors (EI) – the retailer’s current shareholder – since the spring of 2010, as retail consultant, and is also a member in the chain operator’s board of directors.
“There have been no disagreements between the former chief executive and the retailer’s shareholder,” said Cristian Nacu, EI partner.