Hellaby’s set to sale ‘non-core’ group

Hellaby Holdings confirmed yesterday  the sale of its equipment group to Maui Capital’s Aqua Fund for $81 million had gone unconditional.

Settlement would be on September 30.

Hellaby chief executive Alan Clarke said Hellaby had identified automotive and resource services as its core business groups and in the past six months had announced the acquisition of Premier Auto Trade, in Australia, for the automotive group, and TBS Group in New Zealand as part of the resource services group.

Footwear remained non-core and was being restructured.

Profitability was expected to improve, he said.

"We now have a clear focus on our two core business groups where we have identified opportunities to add scale through both organic expansion and acquisition."

The proceeds from the sale of the equipment group would fund the purchase of TBS.