“Portugal’s biggest retailer Sonae plans to open five food hypermarkets in Angola in partnership with Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of the country’s president, with the first scheduled for 2015, a company board member said on Thursday.
Foreign players are investing in Angola’s retail market to take advantage of an oil-backed consumption boom in the country, which is Africa’s No.2 crude producer after Nigeria. The Angolan economy is set to expand 7.1 percent this year.
South Africa’s Shoprite, the continent’s top grocer, plans to add 21 shops to its existing 17 in the country over the next three to four years. U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart is also planning to enter the market through its Massmart unit.
Sonae has 440 food retail stores in Portugal, where consumption has suffered under austerity imposed by the and international bailout. It has expanded its non-food shops selling electronics and clothing to 20 overseas markets.
“We continue to believe that there are still opportunities in the market,” Sonae board member Luis Reis told Reuters on the sidelines of an equities conference in northern Portugal. “We have approval for the project from the government and are working on the operational setup. . .”
Reuters has the full story.
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