Ellerines� acquisition to save 230 jobs

Through the acquisition, Lewis will acquire 62 Ellerines Retail and Furnishers stores in Southern Africa for a purchase price of approximately R250 million (P175 million). This includes 25 stores in Botswana under the Ellerines and Beares brand, 21 in Namibia, 10 in Lesotho and six in Swaziland.

 Ellerines, which is the furniture retail subsidiary of failed South African lender African Bank Investments Limited (Abil), went into bankruptcy last year after running losses of R70 million (P50 million) per month since 2013.