Consortium Zico Capital and RMB Corvest and management announced on Monday that they've purchased a 100 percent interest in automotive parts retailer and wholesaler Autozone.
Zico Capital is an investment company chaired by businessman Sandile Zungu.
"We were very pleased to have concluded this transaction and believe that there is significant potential in the automotive parts industry," said Zico Capital Chief Investment Officer, Tshego Sefolo.
The consortium will purchase Autozone for R435 million from holding company Super Group.
Shareholders gave the deal their blessing on June 15.
Super Group said earlier that it had opted to dispose of the entire issued share capital of AutoZone - ordinary and preference shares - together with the claims between AutoZone and Super Group.
These liabilities - preference shares and claims - include the value of R97.5 million attributed to the preference shares held by Super Group, and assumption by the acquirer of a liability of R27 million payable to Super Group on the effective date of the transaction.
Liabilities were not included in the original agreement with the consortium.
Zico said this was the right time to enter into the automotive sector, given the improvement in the sector since the recession.
"Significant growth in new vehicle sales between 2004 and 2007 will impact Autozone positively over the next 5 years as vehicle-ages reach 5 to 12 years."
"The automotive spare parts industry is driven by older vehicles that are no longer under warranty and possibly no longer manufactured," he said.
The company seeks to also take advantage of the consumer's current weak financial position.
"As the consumer has generally not been in the financial position to buy a new vehicle over the last few years, it will need to be maintained," Sefolo suggested.
Autozone brands currently boast the largest wholly owned branch network in the country with 11 wholly-owned wholesale branches, 82 wholly-owned retail branches and 50 member-owned franchise branches in South Africa with a presence in Namibia and Botswana.
"We believe that there is a considerable opportunity to expand the retail footprint in line with the expected increase in demand and volumes," commented Sefolo. - I-Net Bridge