Panda Retail Company

Panda Retail Company is a Saudi Arabian grocery retailing company. Panda is one of The Savola Group’s subsidiaries. The Savola Group is ranked ninth amongst the top 100 companies in the Saudi Arabian market and ranked second amongst the industrial sector after SABIC. The Savola Group has recently listed its Oils and Fats division in the Saudi Stock market under the name Afia International.

Panda Retail Company
Native name
شركة بنده للتجزئة
FormerlyAzizia Panda United Company
TypePrivate
IndustryHypermarket, food and drink
Founded1978 (1978)
Area served
Saudi Arabia, Egypt
Key people
Bander Talaat Hamooh (CEO)[1][2]
ProductsRetail – Hypermarket
Number of employees
18,000
ParentSavola Group
Websitepanda.com.sa

History

United Panda Co. was founded in Riyadh in 1981 with a capital of SR 207.50 million. Initially the company dealt in selling and importing foodstuff, garments, luxury items, and electric appliances. In September 1993 Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bought 50.1% of the company, at a time it was making loss, and had sixteen supermarkets in Riyadh and two at Jeddah, after the acquisition, Al-Waleed merged his retail company Al-Azizia Markets Co. with United Panda Co. to form Al Azizia Panda United, in which he became the chairman. In 1998, the company merged with Saudi Vegetable Oil Co. (now Savola Group) under the name United Azizia Safola Co., in the next year became United Azizia Savola Co.[3][4][5]

In, September 2003, Azizia Panda United company made it to the Guinness Book by launching the biggest pyramid-shaped box with Tide.[6]

In 2004 Panda launched its own private label and opened its first hyper market under the brand name HyperPanda.[7]

In March 2006, Azizia Panda United opened its fifth hypermarket in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.[8] In April, opened its first outlet outside the kingdom of Saudi Arabia with an investment of AED 50 million (US$13.6 million). The outlet was located in Dubai’s Festival City.[9] It was closed ten years later.[10][11]

In December 2007, United Azizia Panda made sales worth SR3.7 billion in 2007, a 35% increase from 2006.[12]

In 2008, Al Azizia Panda United acquired Giant Stores in Saudi Arabia from Al-Muhaidib Group and merged it into its operations.[6] In the following year Savola Group acquired all 11 Geant Stores, a franchise by al Hokair Group KSA through an asset purchase agreement, and merged it with Panda.[13]

In March 2009, Azizia Panda unveiled the biggest bottle of shampoo in the world with 4,000 liters content of "Herbal Essences" and measuring 4.8m long.[14]

In July 2010, the minister of commerce and industry of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Ahmed Zainal Ali Reza approved the transformation of United Azizia Panda Company from a limited liability company to a closed joint stock company.[15] In 2010 Panda owned 7.7% of market cap of the kingdom's retail sector.[16]

In 2014, Panda introduced Pandati stores.[7]

In 2015, Panda opened its first store in Egypt.[7] After two years, opened its first hypermarket in Upper Egypt.[17]

In November 2016, Panda Retail Company CEO Muwaffaq Mansoor Jamal, resigned after 12 years of service. Savola Group CEO Eng. Rayan Fayez named interim CEO.

As of June 2016, the company operated 65 HyperPanda stores and 156 Panda Chain outlets across Saudi Arabia.[18] In 2016 the retailer closed 51 Pandati stores.[10]

In December 2017, Panda Retail Company interim CEO Eng. Rayan Fayez resigned. Former inspector general of the Saudi Ministry of Health, and CEO of Al Nahdi Pharmaceuticals Dr. Bandar Hamooh, named acting CEO.[19][20]

In November 2022, Panda Retail Company is rebranded with the new logo and Hyperpanda is changed to Panda Hyper.

See also

References
  1. ""صافولا": تعيين بندر حموه رئيساً تنفيذياً لـ"بنده"". www.mubasher.info (in Arabic). 12 October 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  2. "Leadership Team". Savola Group.
  3. The House of Saud in Commerce: A Study of Royal Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia, 2001
  4. Bloomberg Business week.
  5. Khan, Riz (2005). Alwaleed, Businessman Billionaire Prince. New York: HarperCollins. p. 67-68. ISBN 9780060850302.
  6. Azizia Panda sets new mark for Guinness Book of World Records Archived March 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. Panda Retail Company Savola Group
  8. Azizia Panda Savola to open its fifth hypermarket Zawya Archived 2012-10-17 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Savola unveils Dubai hypermarket plan.
  10. Hyperpanda to shutter its doors in Dubai Festival City The National
  11. Dubai Festival City says goodbye to HyperPanda
  12. Azizia Panda Logs SR3.7bn in Sales Arab News Archived March 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  13. UPDATE 3-Saudi Savola expands retail chain with Geant buy Reuters
  14. Al Azizia Panda wins the spin on biggest shampoo bottle AMEinfo Archived October 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  15. Aziziah Panda Transformed Into Closed Joint Stock Company Zawya
  16. أسواق بنده تستحوذ على 7.7% من سوق التجزئة وأرباحها أقل من العثيم بكثير خلال عام 2010 (Panda Retail Company owns 7.7% of retail market cap and its profit far less than Al-Othaim) Argaam
  17. Saudi Panda to open its first Upper Egypt hypermarket next Wednesday
  18. Panda Retail opens five new outlets in 30 days Arab News
  19. Savola's Retail Unit Panda Names New CEO albawaba
  20. "صافولا" : تعيين بندر حموه رئيسا تنفيذيا لشركة "بنده" (Savola: Naming Bander Hamooh as CEO of Panda) Aliqtisadi
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