superquinn
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New Superquinn owners aim to expand
January 10, 2005 09:00
Superquinn has been taken over by a consortium of Irish investors in a €450m deal.
Under the deal, 46-year-old Dubliner Simon Burke, an Irish man who headed Hamley’s toy store in Britain, will become the new executive chairman of Superquinn. The group will retain its name and management team.
Senator Quinn said it was his strong wish that Superquinn remained independent of multinationals and was controlled in Ireland.
Mr Burke told RTE radio the investors involved, including himself, were all Irish and came from a range of backgrounds, including retail, finance and property.
Mr Burke said that as there were people with good connections in the property world, the group could now gain access to sites that might previously have been unavailable. He said he wanted to build on the Superquinn brand, which was about quality fresh food, and develop its range to offer products other supermarkets did not offer.
Asked about competition from Aldi and Lidl, Mr Burke said Superquinn was different, and was based on the idea that its customers were discerning and would pay for quality and freshness.
The Irish supermarket sector has become increasingly competitive in recent years. The expansion of Aldi and Lidl combined with the strong position of Tesco has put more pressure on Irish owned retailers.
In recent years Superquinn has been outbid by other supermarkets companies in the battle to purchase prime retail sites. Superquinn’s new owners hope to use their financial muscle to expand the company.
The group has 19 supermarkets and one small convenience store. It plans to increase its presence in the Irish supermarket sector where it currently has a market share of 8% compared with Tesco’s 25%.I haven’t seen the make-up of the consortium but I believe one of them is Bernard McNamara. More apartments on the way perhaps??
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Mr Burke will be the only member of the consortium to take an active part in running Superquinn. The remaining members of the group are property consultants Mr David Courtney and Mr Bernard Doyle, corporate finance expert Mr David Cantrell, tax consultant Mr Kieran Ryan and property developers Mr Bernard McNamara and Mr Gerry O’Reilly.
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Waitrose here we come. I would put money on the fact, that these new owners will sell to waitrose, within a year
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@Paul Clerkin wrote:
or two… after they strip the property portfolio
There’s certainly some options:
1. Sit on it a year or so and sell to another chain while holding on to several prime devlopment sites
2. develop some sites in batches to include a superquinn’s below an apartment block, say, and use the apartment revenue to finance other sites while still retaining some of the supermarket wing. I doubt they’de generate enough profit from this though
4. Close superquinn and develop all the sites completely – I doubt any of the consortium are worried too much about public popularity
5. Retain Superquinn as is, and all the lads become shopkeepers. I don’t think anyone looking at the make-up of the consortium would believe that the long-term goal is to keep hold of the company as it stands.
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I don’t know why you are all so negative?
It has been known for some time that Superquinn were looking for external capital to develop the group and with McNamara & SCD they get to realise those ambitions. If you look at their brand position they needed to do something, 10 years ago both Quinnsworth & Dunnes were only interested in competing on price and Superquinn had a good niche in areas such as Sutton, Blackrock & Carlow where there were consumers who would pay a little more. Having looked at their portfolio a lot of it could do with a little development, granted there are sites such as Blackrock that are already maxed out, but there are certainly opportunities for complimentary apartment development at Sutton.
I don’t expect to see the portfolio stripped, but I do expect to see some aggresive site acquisition taking place, as this is the only consortium of developers with a gauranteed anchor and local development expertise.
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