Gassan Azan, a trader from Alfabet Holdings in Jamaica, who some years ago purchased the Van den Tweel supermarket chain, owner of Ling & Sons Food Market in Aruba, has recently acquired Hucor Holding in Curaçao for several million U.S. dollars. With this move, the Jamaican mogul takes control of the fast-food restaurant chains Subway, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Pizza Hut in Curaçao.
In addition to the fast-food restaurants, the acquisition includes Diamond’s Party, Diamond’s Home, and Antillean Pet Containers. All these are companies founded by the late Curaçaoan investor Hubert van Grieken in the past.
Gassan Azan is the owner of the Van den Tweel supermarket chain in Curaçao, Bonaire, and Ling & Sons Food Market in Aruba. Azan purchased the supermarket chain in 2018. The Van den Tweel Group launched Albert Heijn Supermarket in Curaçao in 2007, and in 2011, Van den Tweel Supermarket opened in Bonaire. Thus, Van den Tweel has invested significantly in the Dutch Caribbean, growing their market and later selling the company to Alfabet Holding.
In Jamaica, Azan and his group own MegaMart and Bashco, both being substantial companies. He founded Bashco Trading Company in 1990 and, after nine years, created MegaMart, the first wholesale membership club in Portmore, St. Catherine. Today, there are 12 Bashco stores, and MegaMart has expanded to Portmore, Montego Bay, and Mandeville. Additionally, Gassan Azan is the CEO of Sizzling Slots.
Investments in the Dutch Caribbean are part of his strategic expansion and diversification plan after the investment group initiated the Jamagro Tech Farms project in Lakes Pen, St. Catherine in 2019. It is a state-of-the-art agriculture and industrial project. In the first phase, the project includes 25 hectares of greenhouses and 50 hectares of orchids. This project represented a $219.69 million U.S. dollar investment in Jamaica’s economy in 2018.
