Lithuanian retail group to seek Maxima advantage in Shankill?

An intriguing potential new force in the Irish grocery sector is preparing to dip its toe into the market in south Dublin.

Construction work is well advanced on an extension to Shankill shopping centre, a few miles north of Bray. Mostly shuttered since the crash, it was bought for €6 million by a company called Bilaro in 2012.

Bilaro is linked to Maxima, a Lithuanian chain that employs 30,000 people across 500 stores in the Baltics, Bulgaria and Poland, where it trades as Aldik.

The Shankill centre was once owned by Select Retail Holdings (SRH), a consortium that included Bernard McNamara, and which owned Superquinn before it was bought out of receivership in 2011 by SuperValu owner Musgrave.

SRH, which planned on redeveloping another Superquinn there during the glory years, entered liquidation in 2012, shortly before the Shankill centre was bought by Bilaro. Bilaro's directors are two Lithuanians, Airidas Kondratas and Aurimas Zimnickas, who work for Agile Investment, an investment arm of the parent of Maxima. It also owns Supersol in Spain.

When Superquinn was in receivership, Agile was at the time rumoured to have considered a bid in conjunction with some of SRH’s shareholders.

It looks like they got second prize. Word is they are planning more outlets beyond Shankill. That could send a Baltic chill through some already-embattled supermarket head offices in Ireland.