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Trouble Persists After Lowe’s, Woolworths Failed JV
Flickr/Mike Mozart, Alpha
Lowes’s and Woolworths have become like bitter ex-lovers—what started as a hopeful partnership has turned into a squabble over the ruined scraps of their failed venture.
Lowe’s is accusing Australian retailer Woolworths of “bad faith” in their failed joint venture and is fighting to secure payment as the companies terminate their 2009 partnership to build Masters, an Australian line of home-improvement stores, Bloomberg reports. Under the agreement, Lowe’s owned a one-third stake of Masters.
Masters was a flop, barely earning enough money to keep the lights on, and in the end both companies are losing this fight—shares in Woolworths and Lowe’s are down 8% and 6%, respectively, from a year ago. [Bloomberg]
