One of the Warehouse Group's major shareholders is selling out.
Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Supermarket operator Foodstuffs and two associates - Cash Wholesalers, and Wardell Brothers - have agreed to sell their 9 percent stake in the discount trader.
At current prices, the stake is worth about $114m. The sale is underwritten, guaranteeing a sale, but the Warehouse has been put in a trading halt to allow for an orderly sale.
Foodstuffs, the operator of New World, Pak 'N' Save, and Four Square stores, bought into The Warehouse in 2005 when the big box retailer was looking at getting into grocery retailing.
Along with a private equity firm, it applied to the Commerce Commission for clearance to buy The Warehouse outright.
Rival supermarket owner Woolworths, the owner of the Countdown chain, took a 10 percent stake the following year to block Foodstuffs, which it subsequently sold in 2015 at a reasonable loss to James Pascoe, the operator of Farmers, Whitcoulls and various jewellery brands. Pascoe currently owns just under 20 percent of The Warehouse.
The Commerce Commission stymied the takeover ambitions of both supermarket chains, when it said any acquisition would substantially lessen competition.
