It's the end of an era for The Foschini Group's international expansion man, outgoing CEO Doug Murray. In his 11 years at the helm of the company, the retailer has completed five international acquisitions. Murray, the brains behind the acquisitions of Phase Eight, Whistles, Hobbs (TFG London), Retail Apparel Group (RAG) and G-Star Raw in Australia, will bid farewell to the almost R30-billion company in September. His tenure has overseen a more than 350% share price climb for the owner of local brands such as Markham, compared to a doubling of the JSE All Share. Murray told Business Times this week that "most of the [international] acquisitions come about through personal contacts". "All of our acquisitions have been relationship-driven. They tend not be brought in by an investment bank." Murray said TFG London had had relationships with mangements of various retail teams. "When TFG bought Whistles, the retailer [Whistles] had suffered some losses - we wouldn't have acquired that fr...
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