PEPKOR BUYS LEGIT AND BOARDMANS

South African retailer Pepkor is growing at a rapid rate.

On Tuesday, the clothing, electronics and furniture retailer announced that it plans to expand by purchasing fashion retailers Legit, Swagga and Style, along with homeware brand Boardmans.

Pepkor, who already owns PEP and Ackermans, will be buying the above mentioned brands from the privately owned retail group Retailability.

In 2020, Retailability bought the four brands as well as Edgars from a struggling Edcon after it entered into a form of bankruptcy protection.

The transaction includes 462 stores operating in South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Eswatini. The newly acquired businesses will be incorporated into Pepkor’s Speciality business unit, which currently has 941 stores across the same countries.

“The proposed transaction will add significant additional scale to Pepkor Speciality and expand its product offering in the adult market, especially in womenswear through the Legit brand.”

In a statement, Pepkor said the total purchase consideration payable on the closing of the proposed deal represents less than 2% of Pepkor’s market capitalisation subject to relevant networking capital adjustments. The transaction will be settled in cash.

Image credit: Nova Property Group