Mirage Retail Group (MRG), the company above chains such as Blokker and Intertoys, is postponing its IPO indefinitely. Reason is the continuing uncertainty due to the coronapandemic.
Unstable retail climate
According to CEO Michiel Witteveen, the current market conditions are far too erratic for a move to the stock market. “We have to close at 5pm every day now. I don’t know what else is coming,” he told Dutch newspaper AD. Witteveen wants the entire organisation to concentrate on weathering the crisis. Apart from that, it remains to be seen to what extent investors would currently be enthusiastic about an IPO for the retail group.
MRG would normally go public in the course of next year. Witteveen says that those plans have been postponed “indefinitely”. The intention to go public at some point in the future remains.
Change at the top
The previously announced change in leadership, whereby current chairman Dirk-Jan Stoppelenburg would become CEO as of February, will not take place for the time being either. According to Witteveen, the transfer of power was motivated purely by the stock exchange plans and is therefore no longer an issue.
MRG groups together various retail chains, including Blokker, Intertoys and BCC. In October of this year, the retail group sold the bargain chain Big Bazar to BB Retail.
