Romanian do-it-yourself retailer signs sponsorship contract with tennis star Simona Halep

Romanian do-it-yourself (DIY) retailer Dedeman, the largest company on the local DIY market, signed a sponsorship contract with Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, the current number 3 in the WTA ranking. The value of the contract is EUR 500,000 per year, according to local sports newspaper Pro Sport. Simona Halep has been the most successful Romanian athlete this year. The 22 year-old from Constanta won the Qatar tennis tournament this year and played the finals of the Madrid Open and of the French Open in Roland Garros. She also made it to the semifinals in Wimbledon, but failed to advance to the final due to an injury. Now she says she’s fully recovered and that she’s ready for the US Open. Her goal is to make it to the Champions’ Tournament in Singapore, which is the final grand tournament of the year. The sponsorship contract with Dedeman is the second Halep signed this year. She also got a contract from Adidas in May. Dedeman also signed a partnership with the Romanian Tennis Federation (FRT). As part of the contract, the retailer said that for each new store that it will open in the following years it will also finance a new tennis court. The company intends to add 13 new stores to its network which has 37 units. Three of them will be opened this year. The investment for opening a store is about EUR 10 to 15 million. The company estimates it will spend an extra EUR 30,000-35,000 for each tennis court it will open. Dragos Paval, Dedeman’s president and majority shareholder, said he got this idea after playing a tennis match against Bogdan Enoiu, manager of the McCann Erickson marketing group, which he lost. Dedeman is a Romanian brand developed by local entrepreneurs Dragos and Adrian Paval. They started the business in 1992 and opened their first Dedeman store in Suceava, in 2003. In 2013, Dedeman had a turnover of EUR 606 million and a net profit of EUR 65 million. It has more than 6,700 employees.