French Fnac seems to have won the acquisition battle over competitor Darty, as South African competitor Steinhoff has issued a statement it will not increase its previous bid.
Sizeable price increase
Fnac’s acquisition of Darty seemed to have been finalized in November 2015, but in March, Steinhoff International suddenly came up with its own offer. It matched Fnac’s offer, but proposed to do it entirely in cash. The result was a bidding war, which Fnac is now seemingly winning. Originally, Fnac intended to pay 646 million pounds (830 million euro), but after Steinhoff’s intervention, the price rose to more than 900 million pounds (1.2 billion euro).
Fnac recently raised additional funds thanks to a 159 million euro Vivendi investment in return for 15 % of Fnac’s shares. It also points to new research which claimed the synergy advantages would be much higher than previously anticipated. The French company is the owner companies like Belgian Vanden Borre and Dutch BCC.
