Linklaters and Gilbert + Tobin are advising South African retailer Woolworths Holdings Ltd. on its proposed $2 billion acquisition of Australian department store chain David Jones Ltd.
Woolworths said a major incentive for the acquisition was to create a larger company with more bargaining power with suppliers, particularly in clothing and other fashion items reflecting Southern Hemisphere seasonality. The South African company is not related to the Australian supermarket chain of the same name, though both took their names from the fabled but now-defunct U.S. discount store operator F.W. Woolworth.
