Their store Myer

Fraserlive

The explosive announcement on March 13 that Coles Myer had flogged the Myer business to a consortium comprising Newbridge Capital and the Myer family has been followed by an eerie silence while the involved parties retire to their bunkers to sort out what could be awkward secondary matters.
One is the settlement of leases. Myer has 61 stores, a great number of which are leased from the Westfield group on what were once favourable - but now could be strangling - terms. Nobody in their right mind could see the new owners hitching themselves to 61 stores. Some must be closed and their leases extinguished, while the rest would require assignment. Father Frank and the boys are definitely in the box seat here, so much so that, if they got the grumps, they could cruel the deal. The word on the street is that Westfield will play ball on all the leases as long as it can acquire Myer's iconic, but not beautiful, Bourke Street property. If that happens it wouldn't be long before the seven-level building would be rebuilt or extended to take advantage of some of the most valuable vacant airspace in Melbourne.
My bet is that Frank will get his way. Newbridge/Myer want to be retailers, not developers, and as long as they have a dominating presence in Bourke Street they'll probably be happy. In any case, their purchase price of $1.4 billion could be nicely offset with a property sale to bring the deal nearer to a neat billion - an investment that will still be toweringly difficult to out-perform bank interest.
Another matter being sorted must be that of personnel. Dawn Robertson has decided to jump ship and is currently on a farewell tour of her faithful foot soldiers, lavishly praising them for righting the listing Myer ship. Methinks there is still plenty of water in the bilge, however.
Dawn says she knocked back the position of president in favour of a quieter life - and I can't blame her for that, especially when her payout will be enough to buy a small country. Did I say president? Oh my lord, I surely did! It used to be managing director, then it became chief executive officer and now, goddam it, we look like we might have ourselves a president - and a precedent as well for other big public companies looking to enhance the cred of the top executive job.
Since Dawn has turned to dusk, Newbridge will be looking for a presidential candidate. What's the betting we see another UK or US import to yet again go through the pain of finding out that our market is not that of the UK or the US and that outside our cities there are mostly sheep, kangaroos, rabbits and wild pigs that don't buy much in the way of consumer products.
Further up the Myer ladder, Bill Wavish will be executive chairman of the new business. Bill used to be finance director and director of supermarkets with Woolworths. Some would say this is inviting more of the muddled thinking that beset the mixing of the department store and supermarket/chain genres with Coles Myer.
So far, in all the whistle and pop of the sale there has been one element missing. We've heard about the money, and the overwhelming, pant-wetting delight of all parties, and the stores with their thorny leases, but nobody has ventured into the dark side of how they will run the bloomin' business to make a profit.
Although the Myer family name is on the deal, Newbridge Capital will be calling the shots because it has chipped in the most loot. Newbridge has some exceptional brands in its overseas portfolio, including 120 Debenhams department stores in the UK, 36 Neiman Marcus and two Bergdorf Goodman stores in the US, Bally shoes and leather goods in Switzerland, and J.Crew, a US accessories and clothing manufacturer with 161 regular retail stores and 44 factory outlets.
Newbridge Capital is thus well pedigreed and probably deep pocketed - which it will need in its Australian adventure. It was also a canny choice as a purchaser by John Fletcher who couldn't stand the thought of a new owner getting stuck into his valuable Target and K-Mart businesses. John and board chairman Rick Allert must have done many a merry jig around the board room table in celebration of a jaw dropping price and an apparently obliging buyer.
I suppose it might be a bit premature to expect Newbridge to tell us how it will go about the Myer reformation, but I'd expect the post haste closure of at least 30 stores and a growing emphasis on upmarket products where brand names are worth margin.
In the meantime, a new name for Myer is required - although I can't see why Coles-Myer couldn't be smitten asunder and each group take its name with it.
Anyway, I'd like to hear from anybody with some name ideas. Here are a few of mine.
CoalMiner, Sale!, Reym (Myer backwards, if you missed it, and not bad, when you consider what's going on), Newbridgemporim, Sale!Sale!, SidsWagon, Newmyer or Sale!Sale!Sale!
See what you can do.