The TJX Companies, Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Trade Secret, an off-price retailer that operates 35 stores in Australia, from Gazal Corporation Limited (ASX: GZL) for a purchase price of AUD$80 million.
The potential acquisition of Trade Secret provides TJX an opportunistic entry into Australia, where TJX currently operates one of its 13 buying offices. TJX expects the transaction, which has customary conditions to closing, to be consummated by the end of calendar 2015.
Trade Secret offers branded apparel for women, men and children, as well as footwear, accessories and home fashions at great values. Virtually all of the Trade Secret stores are located in the eastern part of Australia. Trade Secret opened its first store in 1992 and since then, has grown to AUD$164.5 million in revenue for its fiscal year ended June 2015.
Carol Meyrowitz, chairman and CEO said “We are excited about the anticipated addition of Trade Secret to the TJX family of companies and expanding to another continent, which underscores the strength of our international growth opportunities. TJX is one of the few major U.S. retailers to have expanded successfully in international markets, including Canada and Europe, which gives us confidence in our potential growth in Australia. With consumer demographics similar to Canada, we see Trade Secret as a strong platform to grow in Australia, similar to how we entered Canada with our acquisition of Winners in 1990 and grew that business into a leading Canadian retailer. We believe TJX can further develop Trade Secret by leveraging our international leadership experience, buying scale, vendor universe, marketing and other capabilities. We view Trade Secret as a good fit with our own corporate culture and are looking forward to growing this business for the future.”
As of May 2, 2015, TJX operated a total of 3,441 stores in seven countries, the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Germany, Poland, Austria and three e-commerce sites. These include 1,126 T.J. Maxx, 987 Marshalls, 498 HomeGoods and 6 Sierra Trading Post stores, as well as tjmaxx.com and sierratradingpost.com in the U.S.; 239 Winners, 97 HomeSense, and 39 Marshalls stores in Canada; and 416 T.K. Maxx and 33 HomeSense stores, as well as tkmaxx.com, in Europe.
