Metro Retail shells out P499M for WellWorth dept stores

MANILA, Philippines - Gaisano-led Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. (MRSGI) has agreed to pay P499 million to the joint venture of the Ayala and Tantoco groups for the purchase of WellWorth department stores at Fairview Terraces Mall and UP Town Center Mall.

The amount will be paid in four tranches with 25 percent already paid last March 1 and the succeeding payments due on July 31, Dec. 31 and on July 30, 2017.

The sale by Ayala Land, the property giant of the Ayala Group, and the Tantoco family’s  SSI Group Inc. of the WellWorth department stores allows MRSGI to expand its network of retail stores.

MRSGI is the largest department store and hypermarket operator in terms of retail value sales in the Visayas.

 The first WellWorth Department store located at Ayala’s Fairview Terraces Mall, opened in 2014 while the second one opened in May last year.

WellWorth Department store is a mid-market department store, which has an assortment of consumer goods, from make-up and cosmetics, children’s clothes, men and women’s accessories as well as toys and home consumer goods.

 It also carries a wide array of affordable international and local brands, such as F&F, Forme, Le Tigre, Saville Row, among others.

MRSGI, which made its debut in the local stock market last year, continues to boost operations and strengthen its performance.