Gordon Brothers has been engaged by Danish Salling Group, owner of the Netto chain, to exclusively manage the store sell-out program of the Polish Tesco stores and fulfil the mergers and acquisitions process.  

Following Tesco’s restructuring decision to exit Poland and focus on its wider Eastern European offering across Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Salling Group agreed to acquire Tesco’s 301 Polish outlets and two distribution centres in June 2020, with a view to transforming and remerchandising the majority to Netto brand stores.  

The acquisition was recently approved by the Polish antitrust authorities, and Gordon Brothers was appointed to autonomously manage and trade-out up to 285 Tesco stores in Poland, many of which are located in major cities including Warsaw, Lodz and Kraków.

Delivering a full turnkey solution, Gordon Brothers will manage the sell-out of the retail inventory, including all furniture, fixtures, and equipment, enabling the management teams of Salling Group to focus on the store conversions and safeguarding jobs.

This complex deal was secured during the COVID-19 pandemic, with initial processes managed remotely and a specialist team deployed locally. The Gordon Brothers and Salling Group teams worked in close collaboration to deliver a positive outcome for Polish customers with the launch of the newly branded Netto stores.

“As Gordon Brothers’ first engagement in Poland, this project sits firmly in our realm of expertise, thanks to our decades of specialist experience in retail sell-out and country exit strategies”, said Olaf Galler, Senior Managing Director, Retail at Gordon Brothers. “We’re pleased to collaborate with and support the Salling Group on this major deal in Poland and look forward to a synergistic relationship that delivers a successful project outcome.”

Gordon Brothers is a natural fit to manage this restructuring process and country exit given the firm’s proven success delivering similar projects across 41 countries worldwide, including the restructuring of a large hypermarket store chain in Germany and projects in Spain, Denmark, The Netherlands, Italy, and countries as diverse as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Borneo.

“We chose to partner with Gordon Brothers because of their proven track record in helping retailers with restructuring for decades, ensuring this project will be delivered effectively and on time in preparation for our Netto roll-out across the region, maintaining a quality grocery store offering for the people of Poland,” said Morten Møberg Nielsen, VP and Head of Business Development, Salling Group.

Salling Group has an expansive network of stores composed of four major Danish retail firms including the discount supermarket chain Netto, which is expanding in Poland with the acquisition of the Tesco stores, supermarket chain Fotex and hypermarket Bilka, firmly positioning them as Denmark’s largest retailer.