South African retail group Spar is due on 10 January 2014 in Luanda to open its first store in Angola, said the group’s chief financial officer, Mark Godfrey.

Godfrey said that the group had a local partner, which he did not name, and would “provide just the products, services and the brand.”

“We certainly want to expand, but we need to have local partners and the speed of our expansion will depend on the performance of this first store,” he said.

The inauguration of the first Spar supermarket in Angola is part of a wider strategy of South African retailers for international expansion.

Shoprite Holdings, South Africa’s market leader, opened its first supermarket in Luanda in 2003 and now has over 150 stores in 16 African countries.

Spar also expects to open four supermarkets in Mozambique in 2014, according to financial news agency Bloomberg. (macauhub)