Retailer's 'steal' comes with liabilities of R3.5bn.
0n paper, it looked like a steal. In 2019, The Spar Group acquired a family-owned chain of supermarkets, Piotr I Pawel, in Poland for the token sum of €1 (about R20).
The 66 stores and one warehouse were in business rescue. It was also awarded the Spar licence for Poland, with 250 franchisees.
The investment bankers who shopped the deal would've no doubt assured then-CEO Graham O'Connor and board chair Mike Bosman that this deal would make them look like geniuses.
Simply apply some of that "world-class South African retail know-how" to fix the businesses and suddenly the group would have thriving operations in three international markets.
That our retailers (across both food and apparel) have, for the most part, struggled in other markets globally was ignored.
Some of those 250 franchisees abandoned the brand shortly after the deal was completed. A franchisee boycott in 2022, which saw around 60 retailers leave the group, meant it ended June 2022 with 164 stores.
'Enough'
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Denne historien er fra September 06, 2024-utgaven av The Citizen.
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