00:00Many people know Meijer for its perfume counters and its long history in Australia.
00:10Familiar landmark, Meijer's of Melbourne is one of the big six in world retailing.
00:15However these days the retailer has been struggling with its profit margins
00:21and younger Australians like Shea and Delora are shopping online instead.
00:27There's not a lot of range, I don't think that I'm their target market.
00:32Now Meijer is betting its future on a merger.
00:36This is about ensuring that Meijer which is 125 years old can continue to be a sustainable business.
00:42The deal would see Meijer buy up five retail chains including Just Jeans, Dottie and Portmans.
00:48All of these are brands that are currently owned by Solomon Lu's Premier Investments.
00:54I'm personally very excited by this transaction and will be joining the board of Meijer
00:59as well as remaining its chairman of Premier Investments.
01:03The deal is worth almost one billion dollars.
01:07It still needs sign off from the consumer watchdog and shareholders.
01:11We're going to vote for the merger, we believe that the merger is transformational.
01:16This retail analyst says the deal is a dud.
01:20Trying to bridge the gap from 13 or 12 up to 80 is problematic.
01:25What I would do is I'd rebrand Meijer.
01:28Meijer's pushing ahead with this merger at the same time that another Australian legacy retailer has collapsed.
01:35The owner of Rivers, Noni B and Katie's just entered voluntary administration
01:41which is putting 3,000 jobs at risk.
01:44I think it's dead and buried.
01:46I'd be surprised if someone tried to resurrect it.
01:49Tough times for retail prompting Meijer mergers.
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