Savola, Giant Stores merger to add sales

Combined sales will be SAR6.2 billion Dh6.05bn) versus SAR4.9bn last year, Savola's retail and real estate business head Muhammad Kashgari said, according to the newspapers.

Savola agreed last week with Abdul Kadir Al Muhaidib & Sons Group to merge their retail units. The merged unit will have share capital of SAR300 million riyals (Dh293.6m), 80 per cent of which will be held by Savola and the remainder by Al Muhaidib Group.

Sami Baroum, Savola's chief executive officer, said sales were expected to rise to SAR10bn in 2010, and aims to double Savola's share of the Saudi retail market to 10 per cent within five years, according to Al Watan.

Set up in 1990, The Giant Stores has 20 outlets across the Kingdom and had planned to add 20 more, according to the Website of the Al Muhaidib group. It also has interests in Lebanon, Qatar and Bahrain, the company says.