Dubai conglomerate Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) could seek to acquire a stake in regional supermarket chain Spinneys, the firm’s CEO said.
Speaking to Al Bawaba at the World Economic Forum in Jordan, MAF CEO Iyad Malas said his company was in the “early stages” of looking at deal to buy private equity firm Abraaj Group’s shareholding in Spinneys.
Abraaj currently holds the second largest stake in Spinneys, which operates supermarkets and hypermarkets in Lebanon, Qatar, Egypt and Jordan. The firm has plans to expand into other Gulf and African markets in the near future.
“The opportunities around acquisitions have been and are primarily going to be in retail, meaning supermarkets and hypermarkets,” Malas told Al Bawaba. Any deal for Abraaj’s Spinneys stake would be worth “below $500m”, he added.
Earlier this week MAF completed a $680m deal to buy out French supermarket chain Carrefour’s 25 percent shareholding in its Middle East joint venture. It is currently looking to raise at least $500m from the issue of a hybrid debt sale to finance this purchase
Malas told Reuters in an earlier interview at the World Economic Forum that MAF was eyeing capital investments from $600m and $1bn this year. The company is also said to be in talks with Egypt’s Mansour Group in regard to acquiring its chain of Metro supermarkets.
Abraaj earlier this year reportedly hired a bank to manage the sale of its majority stake in Spinneys, which was founded in Egypt in 1924 and acquired by Abraaj in 2004.
A spokesperson for Abraaj did not immediately respond to Arabian Business’s request for comment.
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