Cheap As Chips Boss Nick Abboud Facing Take Over Offer

Nick Abboud the former CEO of Dick Smith who is under siege in the NSW Supreme Court following the $400M+ collapse of the former Woolworths retailer is facing a new battle this morning after he took over as the CEO of retailer Cheap as Chips where brands such as Blaupunkt, Brooklyn audio and the likes of J2D flog their bottom end products.

The Peregrine Corporation, which operates On The Run service stations is apparently keen to buy the Abboud run retailer which is owned by The Alceon Group and was founded by Ian Watkins.

Established in 1984, Peregrine purchased the Mobil fuel outlets in South Australia in 2010 and 25 company-owned BP outlets in 2014, they are one of the top 15 private companies in Australia, and the largest in South Australia, with annual revenue of more than $2bn.

According to News Corp publication Miles Advisory is working on the sale of the business which has been owned by Alceop for four years, Abboud has worked for the business for approximately 11 months.

Cheap As Chips operates in the discount variety category like its rival The Reject Shop, which has seen a surge in its share price since the onset of the global health crisis.

But unlike The Reject Shop, Cheap As Chips has a larger regional footprint, the business is thought to be worth about $250m.

The stores are located mainly in South Australian and Victorian regional areas and plans have been afoot to roll out the business nationally.

A move by Alceon to sell comes after the private equity firm had received approaches from prospective buyers, including other private equity firms.

Peregrine is a family-owned company that operates the On The Run brand of service stations and convenience stores in South Australia, as well as Smokemart & GiftBox stores nationwide.

It is understood to be actively looking at acquisitions in the area of food supply.

During the past week Abboud has been questioned about millions of dollars’ worth of O&A payments sought from suppliers to Dick Smith which he has been accused of using to prop up the profits of Dick Smith.

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David Richards

David Richards has been writing about technology for more than 30 years. A former Fleet Street journalist, he wrote the Award Winning Series on the Federated Ships Painters + Dockers Union for the Bulletin that led to a Royal Commission. He is also a Logie Winner for Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism with a story called The Werribee Affair. In 1997, he built the largest Australian technology media company and prior to that the third largest PR company that became the foundation company for Ogilvy PR. Today he writes about technology and the impact on both business and consumers.