31st May 2016 10:27
LONDON (Alliance News) - French electrical goods retailer Darty PLC on Tuesday said it is recommending the takeover offer proposed by Groupe Fnac SA.
Fnac, which also sells electrical products in Europe, had been engaged in a bidding war for Darty with South African furniture and household goods retailer Steinhoff International Holdings NV, which made its offer through its retail chain Conforama.
After a series of rival bids, Steinhoff left its final offer at 160 pence share, lower than Fnac's final offer of 170p per share.
Darty had initially recommended one of Steinhoff's earlier bids of 125p per share in March, but then as the bidding war escalated Darty said it would consider offers from both parties.
On Tuesday, Darty said it is recommending Fnac's final offer over Steinhoff's, with the former valuing Darty at a premium of 6.3% to the final offer made by Steinhoff.
"In evaluating the Fnac offer, the board of Darty has considered various aspects, including execution risk, and considers the final offer to represent a superior offer for Darty shareholders, as compared to other offers," Darty said in a statement.
"The Darty directors consider that the final offer is in the best interests of Darty shareholders as a whole. Accordingly, the Darty directors have in the response circular unanimously recommended that Darty shareholders accept the final offer," the company added.
Fnac's final offer includes a partial share alternative, under which shareholders are entitled to elect to receive one new Fnac share per every 25 Darty shares instead of all or part of the cash they would otherwise receive.
Shares in Darty were trading down 0.4% at 167.90p on Tuesday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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