Australian retail titan Woolworths Ltd is to offload its alcohol and gaming operations, following in the footsteps of rival Coles Group Ltd and after a campaign by anti-gambling groups.
Woolworths said it would combine its Endeavour Drinks business with the hotels and gambling-focused Australian Leisure & Hospitality Group (ALH), forming a A$10 billion (US$7 billion) unit called Endeavour Group.
The new entity is to become the country’s biggest integrated drinks and hospitality business, with 1,500 BWS and Dan Murphy’s drinks outlets, and more than 300 hotels, Woolworths said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.
It is looking to hive off the new group next year, Woolworths said.
The move follows a similar move by Coles this year, which saw it sell its hotel and 3,000-strong poker machine business for about A$200 million.
“The board believes that a merger of Endeavour Drinks and ALH followed by a separation is in shareholders’ best interests and will benefit customers and team members of both groups,” Woolworths chairman Gordon Cairns said in the statement.
The separation would allow it to “benefit from a simplified organizational structure, a greater focus on its core food and everyday needs markets, while the new group will be able to realize its full potential,” the statement said.
Since Coles moved out of the sector, Woolworths has faced increasing pressure to unload its gaming business.
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