Jamaican business mogul Gassan Azan has expanded his footsteps across the Caribbean with the acquisition of all five supermarkets of the Netherlands-based Van den Tweel Groep in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, known as the ABC islands.
The 100 per cent purchase took effect on May 1, Azan told the Jamaica Observer yesterday, pointing out that Sygnus Capital was the lead advisor for the negotiations and lead arranger for the financing of the acquisition made by his investment group Alfabet Holdings Inc.
Azan said that the stores — known as Van den Tweel Supermarkets, Ling & Sons IGA Supercenter, and Warehouse Bonaire — will not be rebranded under his successful Jamaican wholesale supermarket chain MegaMart.
“Each store has its own identity. In fact, the one in Aruba is very American as the market there is very American and our markets in Curaçao and Bonaire, where there are two stores each, are very Dutch, so they will be maintaining their identities,” Azan said
.
However, he said that while some of the more recognised Jamaican products are already in the stores, “we will be doing all we can to further expose brand Jamaica in the supermarkets”.
Known for their quality and wide range of products, the supermarkets employ just over 500 people full-time and approximately 200 part-time.
Yesterday, Azan said that he does not anticipate any changes to the current staff; however, there is likely to be “some amount of rationalisation as time goes by”
MegaMart operates Jamaican stores in Kingston, Portmore, Montego Bay and Mandeville
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