Australian grocer Coles has snapped up another UK stalwart with the appointment of former Boots group financial controller Tony Buffin as its finance director.

Buffin was most recently European managing director of Groupe Aeroplan, an international loyalty management company. Before joining Groupe Aeroplan, he was at Boots and headed the international healthcare strategy team. Buffin started his career at Ernst & Young, then joined Mothercare.

Coles managing director Ian McLeod said: “Tony has extensive retail, finance and business development experience in the UK and Europe. I am confident he will make an outstanding contribution as part of the new management team towards the turnaround of Coles.”

Buffin will take up his role in July. He is the latest hiring for the Australian grocer, which has snapped up several executives from UK retailers such as Tesco and Asda. Asda saviour Archie Norman is working with McLeod to turn around Coles.