Fnac said Tuesday it had acquired the support of the majority of shareholders of Darty, which could enable it to take effective control of the brand appliance, unless a final and significant escalation of Conforama. Tuesday night, the group of Alexandre Bompard formally held 29.73% stake in Darty, having acquired a very significant number of Darty shares in the last twenty-four hours following the announcement of his new bidding Monday. Added to this are “irrevocable undertakings” from two of the main shareholders of the brand of appliances, the fund Knight Vinke and DNCA, to also bring their Darty 22.1% of the supply of Fnac, which Artemis belongs to the group of François Pinault, owner of the Point .
Technically, the “cultural agitator” could become the majority shareholder in Darty, with 51.84% of capital. But for this he must first officially submit its bid to the British market authorities. This will be done “in the coming weeks,” he said Tuesday. In the meantime, Fnac (which excluded even raise its own offer) is not totally immune to a possible further escalation of Conforama, which formally owns already 20.4% of the capital of Darty.
on Tuesday evening, the Darty title was back below the 170 pence bar, losing 1.75% on the London Stock Exchange, after hitting the day before the 172 pence. Fnac, she closed the day on a rise of 0.56% to 54.25 euros.
Fnac gets € 950 million bank
Fnac Conforama and engaged for several months a fierce battle to acquire Darty. The confrontation began in September with an initial proposal of Fnac country in March by a first competing offer Conforama, has suddenly accelerated on 21 April. In less than twenty-four hours Fnac and Conforama have multiplied the bidding. Monday, in a final proposal, Fnac finally revised upwards its proposal, offering 170 pence per share against Darty 160 proposed by Conforama, raising the valuation of Darty to 1.16 billion euros, where the sign Furniture offered 1.09 billion.
The distributor of cultural and electronic products also offers an alternative in exchange for shares. It also indicated that it had financial resources “sufficient to satisfy the full acceptance” of this third offering. Fnac recently acquired from banks a financing line of 950 million euros and can count on the support of his latest shareholder to date, Vivendi, which recently completed a capital increase of 159 million euros taking 15% of its capital.
Conforama his side has the support of its parent, the giant south African Steinhoff, which has nearly 3 billion cash. On Monday, the group said Alexander Nodale “studying its options” Darty urging shareholders not to take any hasty decision. He has since not taken the floor.
silent Darty since Thursday
The acquisition of Darty is an important issue for both distributors, each seeking to gain competitive advantages and decisive, particularly against the US giant Amazon or french CDiscount in a market highly competitive electricals and recovery. Seize Darty enable Fnac to strengthen its diversification strategy, particularly in the connected objects and small appliances, to counter the decline of its traditional market, cultural products. The group dangled the alliance with Darty would release 130 million euros in savings, including through cross-trade deals, but also through “optimization of logistics and IT” and administrative functions.
This element raises the concern of unions, fearing job losses. This weekend, they were therefore in favor of the proposal of Conforama. Marriage with Conforama would allow it “to create a French leader in the distribution of goods and home accessories, operating under strong brands and complementary.”
Darty is since Thursday, remained silent. The sign was then simply stated note the bidding of her two suitors, adding that its board “would carefully consider before making timely a new recommendation to shareholders.”
No comments:
Post a Comment