Woolies deal going ahead: Di Pilla

The author of the Masters property buyout says Lowe’s is trying to squeeze money from Woolworths.

The troubled Woolworths hardware franchise is looking to sell the warehouse-sized building. Picture: Brendan Radke.

David Di Pilla, the former investment banker who masterminded the $750 million buyout of Masters’ 82 properties, believes US hardware giant Lowe’s has taken court action against its partner Woolworths (WOW) to squeeze more money out of the supermarket group as it tries to shut down the doomed Masters chain.

Mr Di Pilla, who is the former boss of UBS Australia, told The Australian this afternoon he had a strong, enforceable contract to take control of Masters 61 sites and 21 development sites around Australia as his consortium of billionaires and millionaires look to refurbish the stores and turn them into new retail outlets.

“Woolworths have agreed to sell me their shares, under any circumstances, in the joint venture, end of story,’’ Mr Di Pilla said after hearing that Lowe’s had taken court action today against its partner in the failed Masters business. Woolworths is claiming shareholder oppression as it looks to strip Masters of its assets in a fire sale.

“This deal is going ahead, so this is just an argument in the background around money, it’s just an attempt to grab more money from Woolworths, that’s all,’’ Mr Di Pilla said.

Lowe’s has a 33.3 per cent stake in Masters, while Woolworths has a controlling 66.6 per cent stake in the loss-making hardware chain.

Last week as part of a three-part deal to shut down Masters, Woolworths agreed to sell 61 Masters sites and a further 21 development sites to the Home Consortium group for $750 million. Mr Di Pilla is the chairman of the consortium and his investors include big-name backers, such as the families behind retailer Spotlight, Chemist Warehouse and members of one of Sydney’s richest families, the Salteri clan.

“There is a binding agreement between the parties which has been signed,” Mr Di Pilla said about his Home Consortium deal with Woolworths.

“What they (Lowe’s) is arguing is suppression of minority rights under the joint venture agreement and to appoint a liquidator, it’s just not correct.

“So essentially Woolworths are very confident in their position, we are confident in our contract, we have a call option that we can call for Woolworths shares … so we are very confident around our position.”