TFG, led by South African tycoon Michael Lewis, acquires Street Fever to bolster footwear offerings

The Foschini Group (TFG), a leading South African retail clothing group, has announced its acquisition of the affordable branded footwear and clothing chain, Street Fever.

The acquisition, which is subject to approval by competition authorities, will see TFG take over 114 Street Fever stores through its fast-growing value athletic and leisure footwear brand Sneaker Factory. The move is expected to strengthen TFG’s presence in the value-branded footwear segment and provide opportunities for growth and expansion in the future.

TFG, which is led by South African fashion tycoon Michael Lewis, who played a pivotal role in the growth and success of TFG, leading the company through a series of acquisitions and expansion initiatives, currently owns over 30 brands in the clothing, homeware, and jewelry sectors, including Totalsports, Sportscene, American Swiss, Coricraft, @home, The Fix, and Markham.

The acquisition of Street Fever will also see TFG absorb around 650 jobs provided by Street Fever, which began as a Cape Town-based family business.

TFG CEO Anthony Thunström said in a statement: “We’re pleased to be in a position to safeguard employment for the Street Fever staff despite the current challenging trading conditions. As we have shown with previous acquisitions such as Jet, Granny Goose, and Tapestry Home Brands, TFG has an established track record of integrating businesses successfully and using our scale to unlock accelerated growth.”

Sneaker Factory’s head of business, Nizamudien Parker, added: “Loyal Street Fever customers can rest assured that they will find familiar faces in the rebranded Sneaker Factory stores as the staff will be retained, while TFG will bring even more competitive pricing, exciting new brands, accessories, and apparel while having access to TFG credit and our industry-leading rewards program.”

TFG plans to rebrand at least 90 of the Street Fever stores as Sneaker Factory stores, while the rest will be taken over by other TFG brands. The move comes nearly a year after TFG entered into a definitive agreement to acquire South African on-demand shopping platform Quench. The rand value of this deal was also not disclosed.

TFG’s share price closed at R102.83 ($6.037) per share on Fri., Dec. 23, 2.92-percent higher than at the opening of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange earlier in the week. This positive response from investors reflects the expected growth and expansion opportunities provided by the Street Fever acquisition.