Pepkor to buy Retailability adult clothing businesses

By Reuters

South Africa’s Pepkor said on Tuesday it will buy fashion businesses Legit, Swagga and Style and homewares brand Boardmans from privately owned retail group Retailability, as part of its expansion into the adult clothing market.

Pepkor, which also sells electronics and furniture, already owns the PEP and Ackermans clothing brands which have given it a dominant share of the children’s clothing and school uniform markets in South Africa.

The total purchase consideration payable on the closing of the proposed deal represents less than 2% of Pepkor’s market capitalisation subject to relevant net working capital adjustments, Pepkor said in a statement. It will be settled in cash

According to LSEG data, Pepkor’s market capitalisation was 97 billion rand ($5 billion) at Monday’s close, making the deal worth around 1.94 billion rand, or $107 million.

The businesses to be bought by Pepkor operate 462 stores across South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho,