Caribbean retailer Massy Holdings acquires Rowe’s IGA for $47M

Massy Holdings, a diversified holding company based in Trinidad and Tobago, has acquired Rowe’s IGA, a seven-store operator in the Jacksonville, Fla., area, for $47 million.

The purchase reflects Massy’s “strategy to expand its retail footprint in the U.S. market,” the company said in a statement.

The stores will operate under Massy’s wholly owned Massy Stores USA subsidiary.

Rowe’s IGA, which was founded in 2005, was owned by Robert A Rowe, who was recently named one of IGA’s 2023 Retailers of the Year by the global independent grocery-store network.

He could not be reach for comment on the sale.

It was not immediately clear whether the stores would continue to operate under the IGA banner. IGA, or the Independent Grocers Alliance, is a voluntary network with more than 8,000 stores worldwide.

Massy, which is publicly traded in Trinidad and Tobago and in Jamaica, operates several retail concepts across the Caribbean, but did not list any retail holdings in the U.S. in its recent annual report. It does have some distribution business in Florida, however, according to the report.

Massy’s retail division includes 60 stores under nine different formats and includes 32 in-store pharmacies and 14 warehouses. The company said it is the leading supermarket operator in the territories where it operates, with formats that also include supercenters, express stores, gourmet stores, pharmacies, home goods stores and a mega-warehouse club in St. Lucia.

Retail operations tallied about $1.1 billion in sales in the most recent year, up 8% year-over-year. Profit before tax in the division totaled about $78.6 million, up 25%.

The Rowe’s IGA acquisition will represent a 1% increase in Massy Group’s assets and is expected to contribute to an increase in the company’s profit before tax of approximately 4%, Massy said in a statement. The acquisition is expected to increase the Massy Group’s retail portfolio profit before tax by 7%, the company said.

Massy Holdings has three main investment portfolios: Integrated Retail, Gas Products, and Motors & Machines, as well as other lines of business.