Fnac Darty, Kretinsky offer to buy Italy's Unieuro for around $270 million
By Olivier Sorgho
(Reuters) - French retailer Fnac Darty on Tuesday offered to buy Italy's Unieuro for around 249 million euros ($271 million) to create a market leader in consumer electronics and domestic appliances in southern and western Europe.
It offered 12 euros per share in cash and shares for the Italian consumer electronics distributor in a joint offer made with Ruby Equity Investment.
Ruby is an affiliate of Vesa Equity Investment, Fnac's top shareholder controlled by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, who is vying to expand his sprawling empire of investments ranging from media to retail and football.
"We've sent an offer today, to the board, to submit to all the shareholders ... We don't know what will be the outcome or the response from them," Fnac Darty CEO Enrique Martinez said on a call on Tuesday, adding Unieuro had "several weeks" to consider the offer.
Unieuro's shares jumped 36% on Wednesday to 11.28 euros, nearly matching the offer price. It said its board had taken note of the proposal and would respond in due course.
Iliad, Unieuro's biggest shareholder, did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.
Fnac Darty said the merged company would aim for over 10 billion euros ($10.94 billion) in annual sales, and have around 30,000 employees as well as more than 1,500 stores.
"Our geographical presence would be significantly expanded, and we would support Unieuro in continuing its digitalization and transformation towards more services," Martinez added in a statement.
Fnac Darty said it expected the deal to deliver over 20 million euros of benefits before taxes, primarily from improved buying terms, and to boost earnings per share by more than 10% from 2025.
It expects the offer to close in the fourth quarter.
Midcap Partners analysts said the news had invigorated a retail market after several stagnant months.
"On paper, this acquisition appears to be a strategic fit and allows the group to strengthen its position in Italy with a reasonable valuation," they wrote in a note.
The offer comprises 9 euros per share in cash, funded two- thirds by Ruby Equity Investment and one-third by Fnac Darty, plus 0.1 new Fnac Darty share for each Unieuro share.
That would see the French retailer issue around 2 million shares, or about 6.6% of its share capital post-transaction.
($1 = 0.9142 euros)(This story has been corrected to fix the CEO's quote to say 'several weeks,' not 'a couple of weeks,' in paragraph 4)
(Reporting by Olivier Sorgho, Elisa Anzolin, and Matthias Inverardi; Editing by MarkPotter and Kim Coghill)