Benettons swap motorway power for airport clout
11/07/2022 11:23
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are her own.)
By Lisa Jucca
MILAN, July 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The Italian tycoons
will exchange their stake in road and airport caterer Autogrill
for at least 20% of duty-free player Dufry, without getting a
premium. The combined $5.6 bln group is a bet on long-distance
travel recovering. Other investors must decide whether to hop on
board.
Full view will be published shortly.
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CONTEXT NEWS
Swiss duty-free retailer Dufry has agreed to take over
Italian airport and motorway caterer Autogrill, the two
companies said on July 11.
Under the terms of the deal, the Benetton family –
Autogrill’s top investor – will swap its 50.3% stake in the
Italian company at a ratio of 0.158 new Dufry shares for each
Autogrill share.
Dufry plans to launch a takeover offer for the remaining
Autogrill shares at the same ratio. Minority investors will also
have the option to accept a cash alternative worth 6.33 euros a
share.
Depending on the acceptance level in the takeover offer, the
Benettons will hold a stake of between 20% and 25% in Dufry,
becoming the biggest shareholder in the combined group.
Based on closing market prices on July 8, the two groups
would have a combined market capitalisation of around 5.5
billion euros.
Dufry shares were up 7.4% at 33.55 Swiss francs at 0900 GMT
on July 11, while Autogrill shares were down 7.7% at 6.32 euros.
(Editing by Lisa Jucca and Streisand Neto)
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