A look back at what has happened to Courts Asia in the last three decades

Here are key milestones and mishaps before it hit a major turnaround this year.

According to UOB Kay Hian, Courts Asia has built itself to be Singapore’s largest and Malaysia’s second largest electrical, IT and furniture retailer in terms of 2011 total sales.

The ‘Courts’ brand, it said,  is associated with quality products at affordable prices.

Here's more from UOB Kay Hian:

CAL also operates its own proprietary credit business, which allows customers to make purchases through credit accounts opened directly with CAL.

Besides Singapore and Malaysia, CAL holds branding rights to operate in 16 other countries in Asia- Pacific.

Starting in 2007, CSL and CMB undertook numerous rationalisation and enhancement initiatives to improve their profitability as well as branding. These include the shutting down of loss-making operations in Thailand and Indonesia, closure of 22 unprofitable stores in Malaysia and a few in Singapore, relocations and refurbishments of other stores, and the regional centralisation of senior management team.

The focus of stores in Malaysia also shifted from furniture to consumer electronics. Though consumer electronics has lower margins, they have higher turnover and draw higher traffic. To improve its branding, all stores underwent a change of façade.

Shareholders

Pre-IPO, CAL was 100% owned by Singapore Retail Group (SRG), the ultimate owners of which are Baring Private Equity Asia III Holding (14) Ltd. (BPEA) and Topaz Investment Worldwide Incorporated (Topaz).

BPEA is a private equity firm that focuses on mid-sized companies in Asia needing capital. Topaz is the investment vehicle of Kuwaiti financial services firm, The International Investor. Post-listing, the shareholders of CAL are SRG (68.2%), Terence O’Connor (2.3%), Kee Kim Eng (0.3%),
and the public & institutional investors (29.2%).