assignment
Milan , March 28, 2015 – 22:44
Another Italian company ends up in foreign hands: the Swiss Dufry has in fact bought World Duty Free. The Benetton have reached a binding agreement to divest the group of Basel its stake (50.1%) held by Schema34 (controlled holding Edition). The sale price is € 10.25 per share WDF, for a total consideration for Schema34 of 1.3 billion euro. With the integration Dufry affirms his position as leader of the airport shops, a group worth over 3.6 billion euro, with 1600 stores around the world, 217 airports covered, presence in 60 countries and a market share of 15%.
By September
The chain of stores in airports, after the spin off by Autogrill dating back to a year and a half ago, was at the center of various hypotheses for some time now. In late January, the Benetton had shown themselves open to receive any offers. Dufry already at the time was among the potential suitors. Now the Swiss group won the day. The goal was to ensure a WDF (assisted by Deutsche Bank as financial advisor) a successful positioning in the long term. The sale transaction is expected to close by the third quarter of this year. Only later, Dufry will launch a mandatory public (which is advisor Mediobanca) on the remaining shares of WDF.
The capital increase
To be able to carry through the acquisition of the 50.1% stake WDF the shareholders of Dufry will launch a capital increase aimed at the partial financing of the acquisition and approval by the competent antitrust authorities. An operation that should not have a hitch: a group of shareholders representing approximately 30% of the voting capital of Dufry, has provided Edition Schema34 and irrevocable commitments to vote at the meeting in favor of the approval of the capital increase.
March 28, 2015 | 22:44
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