Newsagency franchise group Supanews has submitted a bid with the Administrator of REDgroup Retail (Borders, Angus & Robertson and Calendar Club) to purchase the Angus & Robertson franchise
network and related Angus & Robertson assets including corporate A&R stores, website and intellectual property.
Supanews has written to A&R franchisees to inform them of the move and note that they would not move on the offer unless at least 40 A&R franchisee stores agree to transfer to the new network.
My understanding is that the proposal is contingent on Supanews buying back the share of Supanews which is currently owned by REDgroup Retail.
While newsagents would benefit from the ultimate collapse of Angus & Robertson, I’d note that a takeover by Supanews makes sense for both A&R and Supanews. They have been kind of corporate colleagues for some time. They are also both full franchise operations.
The letter sent to A&R franchisees yesterday is inviting in the financial and other terms it indicates would be on offer should the proposal to the administrator be successful.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Given the announcements last week from REDgroup Retail administrators, there is not much time to cut a deal.
Hi Mark;
how would this play out with an A & R store located in a country town; would they immediately begin trading as a Supanews franchise and therefore become a newsagency; or would they continue as simply a bookshop?
Vaughan, my understanding is that A&R stores would continue to trade as A&R stores offering the range the currently offer.
Be that as it may, if I had a newsagency in the same centre as an A&R, and I had wind of a newsagency group taking it over, I’d be sleeping with one eye open until such time as I was assured in the most watertight fashion possible, that it wouldn’t impact on my business. Particularly given centre managements’ apparent propensity to screw their tenants at every opportunity and go where the sweetest deals are. I certainly wouldn’t be relying on them to do the right thing, should push come to shove.