Talks with The Good Guys heat up.
The South African-based retailer Steinhoff International and The Good Guys are believed to be in serious talks re a purchase of the company. Steinhoff owns furniture chain Freedom Group, bedding chain Snooze and discount furniture retailer Poco, and according to industry sources has been underwriting the buy-back of the The Good Guys joint-venture stores since the retailer announced the scheme in late 2015.
The Good Guys is also believed to be looking at around 20 former Dick Smith shops, which would lift the total number of corporate stores to around 120.
The Good Guys told Appliance Retailer that it couldn’t comment on media reports.
Steinhoff has operations in more than 20 countries, emerged as one of the largest retailers in Australia two years ago after buying fellow South African retailer Pepkor Holdings.
Last week, the company made an offer for UK electricals retailer Darty from France’s Fnac and last month it tried to trump Sainsbury’s bid for Home Retail Group.
Market sources say Steinhoff is waiting for The Good Guys to complete the buy-back of about 57 joint-venture stores before it finalises a deal. The buy-back is due to finish in June. TGG chairman Andrew Muir was believed to have been seeking at least $1 billion when he last entertained offers for the business.
The Good Guys is now one of Australia’s 10 largest private companies and the third largest player in the home appliances market after Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi, with sales of more than $2 billion.