Makro is a Dutch international brand of warehouse clubs, also called cash and carry stores. Makro was founded by SHV Holdings, a Dutch conglomerate based in Utrecht in partnership with German company Metro AG, with the first warehouse club opened in Amsterdam in 1968. Currently, ownership of the worldwide chain of stores is split between different companies like Metro AG in Europe (except UK), SHV Holdings in Latin America (except Peru) and CP All in Asia. In many countries, access to stores is restricted to business customers, and the stores are not open to the general public. History SHV originated in 1896 from a merger between a number of large coal mining companies, some of which had been active since the 18th century. In 1968, the first Makro store opened in Amsterdam. In the following years more stores opened in the Netherlands and several other European countries. In April 1971 the first Makro in the UK opened in Eccles, Manchester. Also in 1971, the first Makro store outside Europe opened in South Africa. In the 1970s and 1980s Makro extended its business to the Americas and Asia. Makro had also expanded to the United States in the mid-1980s. In 1989, Kmart bought the US locations, and converted most of them to Pace Warehouse in 1990. In 1988, the first Makro store in Asia opened in Thailand. The South African stores were subsequently in 1990 exchanged for a shareholding in Massmart and in 2004 SHV sold its Massmart shares. In 1998, owner SHV Holdings sold the Makro stores in Europe to German partner Metro AG. The sale, announced on 29 October 1997, was approved by the supervisory board of Metro AG on 17 December 1997. Makro who opened first store in the Philippines in 1996 through a joint-venture with SM Prime Holdings and Ayala Group. In 2004 Ayala sold its 28% stake to its joint-venture partners. In late 2007 SM Investments folded the Makro stores into its operations after it increased its ownership of Pilipinas Makro to 60%. The SM group took 100% in Makro, and later rebranded all Makro stores to SM Hypermarkets and SM Savemore. On 31 January 2007, Makro Malaysia was acquired by Tesco and the 8 stores in Malaysia were converted to Tesco Extra. In 2010, Makro Cash & Carry Indonesia was sold to Lotte Mart and rebranded as Lotte Mart Wholesale. In 2012, Metro sold the