Will the Fnac Darty group succeed in convincing the shareholders of Unieuro, the leading distributor of electronic and household appliances in Italy with a market share of 17%, of the advantages of a merger between the two companies?
The French distributor of cultural goods, leisure goods, technical products and household appliances present in thirteen countries launched a takeover bid on Italy’s Darty on Monday 2 September, with the financial backing of its main shareholder, Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, acting through one of its investment vehicles, Ruby Equity Investment.
The offer from Fnac Darty, which will end on October 25, values Unieuro at 249 million euros, an amount that should be paid 75% in cash and the rest in Fnac Darty shares. This represents “a 42% premium over the volume-weighted average of Unieuro’s share price at the close of business on July 15, 2024”according to a press release from Fnac Darty dated August 29. and constitutes “a unique opportunity to create a European leader in specialist distribution”The group added. In 2023, Fnac Darty had a turnover of €7.87 billion (−0.9% compared to 2022) and Unieuro €2.6 billion.
Such a purchase would enable the French distributor to exceed 10 billion euros in turnover, a critical figure that would improve its purchasing conditions from its suppliers, as well as its access to financial markets. But that’s not all. “Today we are strong in France, Belgium and Portugal. This transaction would allow us to diversify and reduce our dependence on the French market, where we generate around 6 billion euros out of a total of almost 8 billion.specifies in World Enrique Martínez, general manager of the Fnac Darty group, who foresees “20 million euros in synergies through this industrial project with a company that is highly focused, like us, on digital, services and repairs”.
There is no consensus on the terms of the operation.
By the end of 2023, the French group had already strengthened its position in Europe with an acquisition in Portugal: the purchase of the ten stores and the online store of MediaMarkt Portugal (around 450 people and a turnover of nearly 140 million euros during 2021-2022). Fnac Darty then consolidated its second position behind a local player, Worten.
The French group, which already owns 4.4% of Unieuro’s capital, announced its takeover bid on July 16. It received approval from Consob, the Italian financial markets authority, on August 23, which validated the right to launch this offer on the stock exchange. But the terms of this operation did not reach consensus among the board of directors of the transalpine consumer electronics distributor with 500 stores. Its capital is held by Iliad (parent company of the operator Free), which owns 11% of the capital, the asset manager Amundi, the Silvestrini family (of the founder of Unieuro) and investment funds. Five directors considered it insufficient, another five considered it insufficient. “appropriate” and one administrator abstained, Unieuro detailed in a press release dated August 29.
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