Toys "R" Us is to continue operations in Portugal and Spain after Portuguese investors announced they are to buy the insolvent company's Iberian subsidiary.
Toys "R" Us Iberia is to be acquired by Green Swan, fronted by Paulo Andrez, who joins the current management team as majority shareholder.
"This process guarantees the continuity of the Toys "R" Us business in Spain and Portugal and keeps all the stores running and ensuring jobs are kept,” read a company statement.
The business has closed in the United States and the United Kingdom but the new owners for the Iberian market say the business is viable in Spain and Portugal
Paulo Sousa Marques will be the new CEO, and the new owners say they are, "very confident in the future of this company, with all the existing human capital and its skills, in the employees and partners and are highly motivated to continue to offer families, their babies and children the best product offerings in childcare, teaching materials and entertainment."
Toys "R" Us Iberia has been acquired by the Portuguese company, Green Swan, with 60% of the share capital owned by Paulo Andrez, leaving the management team with 40%.
Jean Charretteur, director general of the company for Iberia and France, said, "This agreement is a result of a process developed by the company in March 2018, which aimed to find an investor who brings the resources and ambition to ensure, in line with the implementation of the business plan, the viability of Toys "R" Us in Spain and Portugal."
On 14 March, 2018, the group announced that it would close all stores in the UK, which left more than 3,000 people out of work.
The next day, the company announced that it was to liquidate the business in the United States.
