South African private equity fund acquires Egyptian supermarket chain

On July 14th, South African private equity fund Investec Asset Management announced that it had agreed a deal to acquire supermarket chain Spinneys Egypt from Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Group. Spinneys Egypt currently has 13 branches (11 supermarkets and two hypermarkets), eight of which are located in Cairo. It was founded in Alexandria by ex-British Army officer Arthur Spinneys during the 1920s.
According to Nick Marsh of Investec, the deal will help “to support the accelerated expansion of the business across Egypt.” One of these new stores will be located in the soon-to-be-completed Mall of Tanta. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Investec will hope to have a better time of it than the last major South African investment in Egyptian grocery retail: Shoprite entered the market in 2001 but retreated just five years later, citing excessive bureaucracy.
This deal is not Investec’s first retail investment: In September 2018, it partnered with RMB Ventures to acquire a majority stake in Botswana-based Kamoso, which apart from having interests in manufacturing and distribution, owns 22 Builders Mart home improvement stores and liquor-store chain Liquorama.
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