[www.inewsguyana.com] –Chairman of the Laparkan Group of Companies Glenn Khan has sought to set the record straight as it relates to the reported sale of Fogarty’s on Water Street, Georgetown.
The Chairman during a press conference on Thursday (December 5) told reporters that such claims are grossly inadequate and are engineered to put the company in a bad light and damage its relationship with its vendors, customers, bankers and staff.
“We have not sold Fogarty’s, Fogarty’s is alive and kicking” Khan exclaimed, adding that “There will be no shutting down and going home and placing of padlocks on the doors.”
He explained rather, that what has happened is that the building has been sold. He said Fogarty’s will in turn be leasing it back for the rest of the business’s lifetime. Khan added that the decision was taken as a sound financial engineering strategy to fund and provide cash flows.
“We want to look strategically at growing the business and maintaining our presence” Khan said, adding that “many organizations abroad do it, it’s nothing new… you release capital by losing fixed assets… sell it and rent it back, it has been done for years.”
He said the sale is not complete but the process has begun. According to Khan, the sale of the building is expected to be closed by February 2014.
When asked about the buyers, sale price and leasing arrangements; Khan refused to divulge any information in that regard but did say that the buyer is local, dispelling rumors that the buyer was in fact Trinidad-based American Stores Ltd.
He said in due course all information regarding the sale of the building will be made public.
According to Khan there will be no retrenchment of staff; he said the challenge Fogarty’s faces is in modernizing the building, adding that the company has not been making the desired levels of profit in recent times.
However, it is likely that when the sale is closed Forgarty’s will not be the sole occupants of the building. [Kurt Campbell]
