bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Sandy Li

AS Watson group managing director Ian Wade was the prime mover behind the company's 1.3 billion euro acquisition of Kruidvat Group.

The genesis of the deal lay in a dinner Mr Wade shared with Kruidvat chief executive Dick van Hedel, a friend of several years, at a restaurant beside the Thames in London last December.

The dinner was at Mr van Hedel's invitation, and it soon became apparent it was more than a casual get-together.

After 74 years as a family-run retail chain, the owners of Kruidvat had decided the time had come to sell.

'We talked about business over dinner,' Mr Wade recalled.

'In the course of our chat, Dick realised that we [Watson's] are the nearest business to what the Kruidvat family has been doing.

'Our philosophies are very similar.'

While the personal connection gave the deal its initial impetus, it was merely the start of a nine-month negotiating process.

Hutchison Whampoa chairman Li Ka-shing gave the acquisition his blessing - but only at a price-earnings (PE) ratio of below 10 times.

That was well below Kruidvat's initial asking price, but Mr Wade did not disappoint.

'It [the ratio] is much lower than the figure when we started our negotiations,' he said.

At the sub-10 PE multiple paid, Kruidvat would yield an internal rate of return of 22 per cent, Hutchison said.

Mr Wade, a 20-year veteran of AS Watson, has been the prime architect behind the retail group's expansion in Asia and Europe.

He engineered AS Watson's acquisition of Savers Health and Beauty, a retail chain of 165 pharmacies in Britain, which he eventually expanded to 260 nationwide.

He also was behind AS Watson's tie-up with ShoeMart Group, the Philippines' largest retailer.

Under the partnership, which took six months to close, a joint-venture company 60 per cent owned by AS Watson will buy all 61 of ShoeMart's health, beauty and family pharmacies in the Philippines.

'He has a strong passion for what he's doing,' said one colleague of Mr Wade.

'He never seems to be bothered by jet lag. He can fly to Europe one day, fly to Malaysia shortly thereafter and proceed to the Philippines on the same day.'

After 40 years in the retail industry, Mr Wade had developed a wide network of contacts that helped him to scout for expansion opportunities, the executive said.

Mr Wade also heads priceline.com, an Internet and travel e-commerce company based in the United States, and its Asian arm, Hutchison-Priceline.



AS Watson man at helm laid foundation on Kruidvat deal