Suresh Veettil

Panda Retail Company – Savola Group

Panda was founded in 1978 as one of the most important organizations in the retail sector in Saudi Arabia. In 1994, Panda merged with Azizia Company then in late 1998 Azizia Panda United was acquired by Savola Group, one of the largest diversified conglomerates in MENA region, Azizia Panda United became the retail sector of Savola and started its journey to become the leading food retailer in the region. In 2008, This acquisition has aided Panda in its growth and expansion by having the largest market share in the Saudi retail sector. The first new format of Hypermarket was opened in Riyadh city in 2004. In 2006, Panda moved forward with its regional expansion by opening its first store in Dubai. In 2008, more numbers of stores were operating under the name of Panda when Savola Group acquired "Giant" supermarkets in Saudi Arabia and merged them with Panda. One year later in 2009, Panda has landed another great success by acquiring all Geant stores in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In 2014 the company name was changed from Azizia Panda United to the Panda Retail Company. And another big step in the expansion plan was achieved when Panda opened it hypermarket in Egypt in the year of 2015. These big steps have raised Panda share in the retail sector from 7% to more than 8%. Today Panda is the largest food retailer in the Middle East owns more than 400 branch of panda Super, Panda Hyper and Pandati in Saudi Arabia & Egypt making it the largest retail company that offering its services to more than 400 million visitors annually.