Shoprite Holdings shareholders are advised that Shoprite Checkers Proprietary Limited (“Shoprite Checkers”) has entered into a joint venture (“JV”) agreement with RTT Group Proprietary Limited (“RTT Group”), Shoprite Checkers’ current delivery partner for Checkers Sixty60, in which RTT Group’s On-demand business (“RTT On-demand”) will be transferred into a new company in which Shoprite Checkers will subscribe for 50% of the issued ordinary shares (the “Transaction”).
As part of the Transaction terms Checkers Sixty60, Shoprite Checkers’ existing on-demand delivery service, will continue to use RTT On-demand as its delivery partner.
The creation of this JV company is significant in terms of the evolution of Shoprite Holdings’ strategic roadmap specifically where it pertains to on-demand and e-Commerce. The JV protects the learnings, technology and intellectual property created by Checkers Sixty60 to date whilst facilitating future innovation and development of the Group’s last mile logistics.
Shoprite Group CEO Pieter Engelbrecht “This transaction is in line with our digital strategy. Owning the last mile home delivery aspect of our Sixty60 service is an important part of building out our digital ecosystem for customers. We consider the combined capability we have built with RTT to be a critical competitive advantage and key to Sixty60’s rapid growth. This RTT Ondemand joint venture will allow the Group the opportunity to continue enhancing our order fulfilment and last-mile delivery capabilities whilst giving us the opportunity to grow our precision retailing efforts for our customers.”
The Transaction is subject to the fulfilment of both commercial and regulatory suspensive conditions including competition authority approval. Subject to conditions being fulfilled, the Transaction is due to be finalised prior to the Group’s June 2022 year end. The Transaction is not a categorised transaction in terms of the JSE Listings Requirements and as such this is a voluntary announcement.