Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos has broken off long-standing negotiations with Portuguese group Sonae and on Monday launched her own hypermarket chain in Angola, the Portuguese press reported.

The Sonae group and Condis, one of the companies owned by the Angolan businesswoman in April 2011 parepared the launch of a chain of Continente hypermarkets in Angola, which would be managed by staff of the Portuguese group, with plans for the first store to be inaugurated in 2013, which never happened.

Isabel dos Santos’ hypermarket brand is called “Candando” a word that means embrace in the Kimbundu dialect and Condis hired two senior staff members who were working for the Sonae group on this project.

One of these staff members, Miguel Osorio, said in Luanda the hypermarket chain was 100 percent owned by the Angolan businesswoman, and Condis is expected to invest about US$400 million in the project over the next five years.

The opening of the first “Candando” store of a planned total of ten over the next five years should take place in the first half of 2016, in Luanda, said Osorio, who added this hypermarket with an area of ​​10,000 square metres would be installed on at the Shopping Avenida mall in Luanda.

The Portuguese press also reported that the Sonae group sold its stake in the retail food project in Angola to Isabel dos Santos.

“Following the information previously provided, Sonae’s stake and the resulting responsibilities taken on by it, under the investment project in food retail in Angola, were acquired by the group of engineer Isabel dos Santos,” said spokesperson. (macauhub/AO/PT)