The Sh4 billion ($46 million) acquisition of the three stores from South Africa retail giant gave Nakumatt leverage to re-establish its presence in the Tanzanian retail market after it opened its first outlet in 2011. The three stores acquired by Nakumatt are located in Mlimani City mall, Puga Road in Dar es Salam and in Arusha.
Nakumatt Holdings Managing Director, Atul Shah said the launching of its store in Tanzania fulfils the company’s “long held dream” of establishing its presence in Tanzania.
“This opening also sets the stage for our 50th branch opening by mid-August which will be a key milestone as we’ll have achieved our Nakumatt 2.0 Strategy goal a clear six months ahead of the February 2015 target,” Shah said.
The Nakumatt Pungu Road in Dar es Salaam will be home to its Tanzania Headquarters, Nakumatt said.
Shoprite closed its Tanzania business after a 12-year spell in the country. It was forced out when the host government accused it of flooding its market with South African products.
Nakumatt made an offer to acquire Shoprite’s local assets but such move was slowed when Shoprite employees moved to court over fears of losing their terminal benefits once the Kenyan retailer took over.
The Fair Competition Commission (FCC) of Tanzania later cleared the Nakumatt-Shoprite deal in May after Shoprite employees withdrew their case from the High Court.
However, it gave the retailer strict conditions on operating in its market including hiring a certain quota of locals as well as patronizing domestic manufacturers.
The Regional Retailer already has 34 stores in Kenya and hopes to add three more before the end of the year. Aside the stores in Tanzania, Nakumatt also 10 other subsidiaries are in Uganda and Rwanda.
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