South Africans Swoop For £260m Retailer Office

One of South Africa's biggest retailers will this week seal a cut-price takeover of the British high street chain Office ahead of the crucial Christmas trading period.

Sky News understands that Truworths, which is listed on the Johannesburg and Namibia stock exchanges, is expected to sign a deal to acquire Office as early as Tuesday.

The price is understood to be in the region of £260m, substantially below the £300m valuation attributed to Office in earlier media reports.

A deal is expected to be announced on Wednesday, although a source close to the situation cautioned that the timetable could yet slip.

Truworths, which confirmed that it was examining a bid for Office more than two months ago, is said to be keen to diversify beyond its the African continent amid currency weakness at home.

A number of its South African peers have also expanded into Britain.

Vehicles controlled by Christo Wiese, a wealthy tycoon, own New Look, the fashion retailer, and a big stake in Iceland, the supermarket chain.

The footwear retailer operates more than 150 stores globally, comprising 99 standalone sites, six branded as Offsprings and nearly 50 concessions in Selfridges, Topshop & House of Fraser.

Office has been owned by Silverfleet Capital, a private equity group, since 2010, when it bought the business from Sir Tom Hunter, the Scottish entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Under the stewardship of chairman Allan Leighton, the prominent businessman who used to chair Royal Mail and was also chief executive of Asda, Office has since expanded into Germany.

Silverfleet declined to comment while Truworths could not be reached for comment.