Household furniture retail group Lewis (LEW) on Friday, 31 October 2014, said it had submitted an offer to Ellerines to acquire the Beares brand and some selected stores through its wholly-owned subsidiary Lewis Stores.
Lewis said the business rescue practitioners acting on behalf of Ellerines had accepted the offer and agreed to negotiate with Lewis on an exclusive basis with a view to conclude a binding sale agreement.
Ellerines applied for business rescue in August following the collapse of its parent company African Bank.
Lewis said the purchase consideration had been determined with reference to the value of intellectual property‚ fixed assets and stocks.
Lewis Group CEO Johan Enslin said Beares was a strong and well-established brand across SA with a history dating back more than 80 years.
"The acquisition of Beares aligns with our strategy of gaining access to higher living standards measure (LSM) customer groups and will also enable existing Lewis customers to migrate upwards to the Beares brand.
"Beares has a loyal customer base and we believe offers exciting growth prospects in the medium term. On approval of the transaction‚ we plan to integrate the business into Lewis Group's store‚ merchandise‚ supply chain and credit operations‚" he said.
Lewis said it would provide an update on the transaction in its interim results due for release on 10 November.
Source: BDpro via I-Net Bridge
