Friday 18th June 2010
Bestway Group Continues Expansion
The Bestway Group continues expansion by acquiring Bellevue in Scotland and plans a new depot in the North West.
Bestway Holdings Limited has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Batleys Limited, has agreed terms with Bellevue Limited in Scotland to purchase their two cash and carry branches at Edinburgh and Stirling. In addition Bestway has purchased a site of around 80,000 sq ft at Aintree outside, Liverpool to build a new cash and carry depot.
Zameer Choudrey, chief executive of the Bestway Group who announced the developments at the Group’s annual charity racing day at Royal Ascot, today June 18th 2010 said, “We are delighted to have made this acquisition of Bellevue, which like ourselves is a privately run and family owned business. We have been keen to expand the Group with the right properties and in the right place for some time. The acquisition of Bellevue will help us to continue to build the Batleys Company, something we have always said we wanted to do in Scotland.
“The new Bestway depot in Liverpool will fill a gap in our portfolio in the North West and follows our business strategy of building business for the independents. Both these moves further underline our continued investment and commitment to the whole of the independent sector”
The overall cost of the two deals remains confidential.
Bellevue has been a very successful operation in Scotland for over 40 years. The business has been owned and run by brothers, Graham and George Benson, who will remain with the new company in consultancy roles. The current senior management team will remain in charge of the day-to-day operations reporting to Martin Race, the operations director of Batleys Limited.
Graham Benson, managing director of Bellevue said, “We are extremely pleased to have concluded a deal that is beneficial to both parties. Being part of a much larger organisation will ensure progressive growth for Bellevue and provide added value for our large and loyal customer base.”
A strategic review will now be undertaken involving the senior management from both Batleys and Bellevue to fully consider the future development of the new business.
The new cash and carry depot in Liverpool will be operated under the Bestway name and the building will be operational this autumn, and will create 70 new jobs in the area.