South African retail giant Massmart Holding Limited has revealed a corporate plan to withdraw the business operations of Game stores in some East and West African countries as part of a strategic move to focus on its primary market.
Business Daily reported Mitchell Slape, the CEO of the Johannesburg Stock exchange-listed company, as saying that the chain had begun a formal sales process to divest five Game stores in Nigeria, four in Ghana, three in Kenya, one in Uganda and one in Tanzania.
“We have reached the conclusion that the performance and complexity in running the 14 stores in five markets in East and West Africa is something frankly that we needed to address,” Slape said.
Massmart Holding Limited
Massmart is one of the most dominant retailers in South Africa. It is the second-largest distributor of consumer goods on the continent and the largest retailer of general merchandise, liquor and home improvement equipment and wholesaler of basic foods.
It owns and operates local brands such as Game, Makro, Builder’s Warehouse and CBW. As of July 31, Massmart operated 413 stores in South Africa and 12 other Sub-Saharan countries. Retail tycoon and multimillionaire Mark Lamberti founded the company in 1990.
According to a 2021 report by Opera news, Lamberti is worth about $18 million.
