Dis-chem acquires retail baby hyper store Baby City for R430 million
Pharmaceutical group Dis-Chem announced that it has purchased infant product retailer Baby City for a total of R430-million.
In a statement, the group said it will acquire 100% of the issued shared capital and shareholder claims of Baby City. Dis-Chem believes there is a strong potential to significantly grow the Baby City footprint.
Michel Aronoff, a part of the Aronoff family that founded and strategised Baby City’s direction, will continue to serve as managing director of Baby City following closure of the transaction, and current staff will be retained, Dis-Chem said.
There are currently 33 Baby City stores in South Africa, and Dis-Chem wishes to expand this by a further 30 stores.
Dis-Chem also plans on having in-store branded clinics inside Baby City stores.
“The clinics will offer ante- and post-natal clinic services aimed at babies and toddlers. These services will enhance the destination store status of the brand and in turn allow the Dis-Chem clinic infrastructure within its own stores, which currently offer these services, to handle the growth it is seeing in primary care clinics services volume,” Dis-Chem said in a statement.
“The acquisition is a great cultural fit and has been a target of ours for many years. The brands and businesses were built with similar philosophies ensuring management team alignment as we take steps to unlock the value we see in the Baby City brand.”
Written by: Staff Writer.
Guzzle Media
