Woolworths has officially won approval for its takeover of the 176-year-old David Jones department store in Australia. David Jones was the country’s second largest department store.
Standard Bank is proud to have come in on such a great venture as not only advising the company’s board on strategy but also co-lead, a financing effort to fund the proposed acquisition. Woolworths’ debt financing for the transaction were made possible by also Citigroup and J.P.Morgan.
This takeover will see, Woolworths, a proudly South African retail company, further broaden its Australian footprint. This is Woolworth’s biggest deal to date and will make it a leading southern hemisphere retailer. This move is set to place Woolworths as one of the world’s largest department stores with meaningful scale, able to impact on common fashion seasonality enhancing sourcing capability.
Australian clothing store chains Country Road, Trenery, Witchery and Mimco, are also owned by Woolworths.
This deal promises to add more than $130 million to David Jones bottom line during a time when department stores and retailers in Australia are buckling under intense price competition lacklustre growth.
Standard Bank hopes to see more such bold moves by South African companies – thanks to Woolwoths’ growth outside our continent we know it is more than possible.
