BWG-Spar director John Clohisey is paying "crazy" prices for some shopping sites, sources close to rival Musgraves claimed last week.

The sources were responding to reports of disputes over store prices between BWG's Spar group and Musgraves. BWG earlier this month acquired the company in a management buyout backed by British venture capitalists Electra.

BWG holds the Spar franchise, while Musgraves controls the SuperValu and Centra symbol groups.

"Clohisey is making shopping more expensive by bidding up the price of sites," the sources said.

Clohisey generally buys his shopping sites, employing the manager on an incentive basis. He has told The Sunday Business Post that the shops in the SuperValu and Centra group, run by Musgraves, are a key target.

Musgraves, in contrast, assists its managers with loan applications to buy their own shops when they become Centra or SuperValu operators. One condition is that they give Musgraves first refusal on the shop at market price if they ever want to sell.

Musgraves has found that a bid from Clohisey is often far in excess of what it would wish to pay.

Clohisey has made no secret of his desire to expand his chain of 17 Spar shops more rapidly.

The Sunday Business Post has learned of one major dispute in the Munster region where a Musgraves franchisee is resisting selling his store back to Musgraves because he wants to sell to Clohisey. If the dispute is not resolved amicably, there are fears it could end up in court.

"Clohisey is perfectly entitled to buy these stores but the prices are crazy. He's having to pay a very high multiple of turnover and to get it back at retail level. He has bought about ten of our sites over the last three years," a source close to Musgrave said.

This, he suggests, is the reason for Musgrave's campaigns in Dublin, which are designed to show that Centra prices are cheaper than Spar.

Clohisey has been the main driver of Spar's expansion in Dublin. The latest dispute indicates he has now set his sights outside Dublin. This means it may be more costly for Musgraves to keep its own franchisees happy around the country.

Clohisey has said he has advanced plans for another 15 `Eurospars', a term used to describe larger Spar stores. He said he will target Supervalu retailers who want to switch to Eurospar.

Clohisey and his allies have approximately 20 per cent of the new BWG group. Their ultimate takeout price, when they sell this stake, will depend on their rate of expansion.

This will mean that the convenience storekeepers in Ireland can now deal with the symbol groups with a stronger hand.