€450m takeover set to be finished in 10 days

The €450 million takeover of Superquinn by the Select Retail Holdings consortium will be signed off in the next 10 days. It follows months of delay attributed to difficulties in completing due diligence because the company had recently installed a new accounting system.

Sources close to the deal said the delay would not lead to any material change to the terms of the transaction, the beneficiaries of which are Sen Feargal Quinn and members of his family.

However, there may be minor adjustments to the final terms of Sen Quinn's continuing involvement in the business after the completion of the sale. He and his family agreed last January to sell the chain to the Select Retail Holdings group.

The public face of that group will be Dublin accountant Simon Burke, former chairman of the Hamleys toy retailer in London. While the deal was expected to be finalised in March or April, Superquinn encountered delays in finalising its 2004 accounts as a result of its implementation in May last year of a new accounting system.

The verified accounts and audit for 2004 were not completed until June, delaying the due diligence exercise on the sale process. This exercise is now said to be complete or nearing completion, enabling final sign-off on the deal next week or the week after.

Mr Burke will become executive chairman of the group and Sen Quinn is expected to take the title of president of the company after the transaction.

He and his family are expected to retain some 5 per cent of Superquinn after the deal. However, it is unclear whether all members of the Quinn family who are currently members of Superquinn's management will remain with the company in the long term.

The deal is the second-largest retail takeover since the €800 million buyout of Quinnsworth by Tesco in 1997.

In the face of intense competition in the supermarket trade, the decision to sell Superquinn stemmed from the company's repeated frustration at being outbid on sites it wanted to acquire for expansion.

In addition to Mr Burke, Select Retail Holdings comprises property consultants David Courtney and Bernard Doyle, corporate finance expert David Cantrell, tax consultant Kieran Ryan and property developers Bernard McNamara and Gerry O'Reilly.

The involvement of the property developers has led to speculation that some of the supermarket buildings may be sold off. However, the group is likely to concentrate on its core business in the near term.