Rich lister Maxine Horne swaps iPhones for facial injections after Vita’s $110m Telstra deal

One of Australia’s wealthiest businesswomen, Maxine Horne, will expand her wellness empire after finalising a $110m sale of her telco shops to Telstra.

Queensland rich lister Maxine Horne’s Vita Group will exit the iPhone business and double down on cosmetics, after her company announced it had finalised terms of a $110m sale of its retail telco business to Telstra.

Vita shareholders will receive a special dividend of up to 45 cents per share as part of the deal, with the company passing on between $65m and $75m to shareholders, and it will hold onto around $35m to grow its Artisan Aesthetics Clinics business.

Ms Horne, one of Australia’s richest businesswomen, took a $9m hit when Telstra dropped a bombshell in February, announcing it would end her company’s 26-year agreement to run its chain of retail shops. Its shares slumped by 28 per cent on the news, with Ms Horne’s 29.67 million shares in the company falling in value $9.4m to $24m.

Founded by Ms Horne and her former husband David McMahon in 1995 with a single shop on the Gold Coast, the pair grew Vita to a retail empire encompassing 100 Telstra shops, and 21 Artisan wellness clinics.

“Vita has enjoyed a long-term strategic relationship with Telstra, in which over the last 26 years I believe both parties have gained significant benefit from one another,” Ms Horne said on Friday.

Vita Group founder Maxine Horne has opened a luxury spa business called ArtiSan. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Waugh

“I am exceptionally proud of our people and the business we have built from the very first Fone Zone store in 1995 through to the significant portfolio of Telstra stores that our highly skilled Vita ICT and support team run.

“In addition, over this time, we have also created and developed the brand of Sprout Accessories, one of the largest accessory providers in Australia. All of this, on my opinion, will be of immense benefit to Telstra.”

The company will now turn its focus to wellness and cosmetic injections, which the CEO described as an incredibly attractive opportunity.

“With all that is happening across both the ICT and aesthetics categories, the time is right for both parties to move forward with their respective strategies. In Vita’s case, that is focusing on the growth opportunity we have in front of us, with the Artisan network,” Ms Horne said.

Vita plans to run up to 90 Artisan outlets, many located in wealthy suburbs such as Mosman in Sydney or Hamilton in Brisbane.

The deal is subject to Vita shareholder approval. If the transaction is approved by Vita’s shareholders, Telstra will take over management and employment of more than 1000 staff.

Telstra CEO Andy Penn said in February that as more customers interacted with the business online as a result of the Covid global pandemic and ongoing lockdowns, taking ownership of the stores was necessary “as a way of more flexibly dealing with customer needs”.

“We think now is the right time to bring back ownership to ensure a consistent and integrated customer experience across our online channels and entire store network,” Mr Penn said.

“At the height of Covid last year, we were able to redeploy frontline staff from Telstra owned stores to assist customers through our digital channels or via the phone. It’s this flexibility that we’ll be able to unlock as more retail branded stores are under Telstra’s ownership.”

Vita shares last traded at 94 cents – up 1.62 per cent – while shares in Telstra are up slightly to $3.985.

Additional reporting: Glen Norris

Originally published as Rich lister Maxine Horne swaps iPhones for facial injections after Vita’s $110m Telstra deal