Regal Forest, a Central American furniture and appliance retail entity, through Cobalt Holding Company Ltd is the new owner of the Courts Caribbean chain, though the Courts brand, management and staff will remain unchanged.

The deal between Cobalt Holding and Courts Plc was signed on Monday; Cobalt was selected back in January as the preferred bidder for the bankrupt UK-based group.

Courts Plc (in administration) said in a press release on Tuesday that Cobalt is a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Virgin Islands-based Regal Forest Holding Company Ltd (RFH). Cobalt was incorporated in St Lucia and set up by Regal to acquire the 12 Courts Plc Caribbean operations.

The release said the sale by Court Plc included the interest in all Courts Caribbean operations including Canterbury Insurance.

Courts (Guyana) Country Manager Lester Alvis said yesterday, "this is very positive news" as it puts the Courts chain under solid financial administration and represents a move forward.

Alvis told Stabroek News that there would be no changes of name, staff or management since the new owner was satisfied with the management of the Guyana location and importantly there would be no store closures. The country manager explained that Cobalt has established that part of Courts' strength is its brand hence its name and colours would not be changed. The country manager also indicated that although the management would remain the same it would come under the leadership of a regional corporate executive.

The local staff were told of the development and their reactions were positive, Alvis said.

A team from Cobalt is expected to visit here early next year. Courts Guyana has over 300 employees in nine outlets across the country including Linden, Berbice, Georgetown, Essequibo Coast, Mahaica, Grove, Parika and Bartica. Courts began its operations in Guyana in 1993 when it opened the city store. It has since been a major player in the hire purchase market.

Cobalt emerged as the successful bidder for the Caribbean operations of Courts in January 2006 at the end of a competitive public auction, initiated by the creditors of Courts Plc in London in July 2005, the release said.

The release said Cobalt intends to operate Courts as a long-term going concern strengthening operational and strategic links within the Caribbean and developing similar links with its sister operations in Central America.

Regal Forest is the largest consumer electronics and furniture retailer in Central America, with over 245 stores in six countries, employing over 4,000 people. The stores are very similar to Courts' and like Courts it provides in-house credit and finances its own credit portfolio.

Through the purchase of Courts, Regal Forest has now acquired the major retail brand in the English-speaking Caribbean which gives it a significant retail footprint in 17 countries with over one million active customers, the Courts statement said.

It added that Regal Forest said it looks forward to contributing to the future success and growth of Courts by building on the strong brand-awareness, loyal customer base and trading history of the local Courts operation.

Meanwhile, according to yesterday's Jamaica Gleaner, Regal announced plans to delist Courts Jamaica once its buyout offer of J$4.25 per share is requited.

Regal said it already had commitments from 82 per cent of shareholders, and that once it completes the transaction at a price of US$128 million (J$8.3 billion), it would delist whether or not the remaining shareholders take up the offer.