Nigerian firm completes acquisition of Shoprite

Ketron Investment Limited, a Nigerian company owned by a group of local investors led by property firm Persianas Investment Ltd, has completed the acquisition of Shoprite Holdings Limited.

With the acquisition, Shoprite, Africa’s largest food retailer, has completed exiting the Nigerians market 16 years after it opened its first outlet.

Ketron in a statement said Shoprite is changing its strategy “from an ownership model to a franchise model. The acquisition has been approved by Nigeria’s federal competition and consumer protection commission.

“We look forward to building an even stronger company following our acquisition,” said Tayo Amusan, Ketron’s chairman.

Shoprite, which operates 2,843 supermarkets in 15 countries, serving 35 million customers in Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands, has struggled with supply-chain disruptions and repatriation of funds – both familiar problems to foreign businesses in the Nigerian market.

In August 2020, Shoprite hinted that its business in Nigeria operated under Retail Supermarkets Nigeria Limited “may be classified as a discontinued operation.”

The retailer operated 25 outlets in eight states across Africa’s biggest economy but had been struggling with disruptions.

Ketron, however, said it plans to keep open new ones and display more Nigerian-made products.