Switzerland’s Dufry AG agreed to buy Autogrill SpA from the Italian billionaire Benetton family, creating a new US$6 billion player in the travel retail market.
The Benettons, who control Autogrill, would transfer their 50.3 percent stake to Dufry, receiving 0.158 new Dufry share for each Autogrill share, according to a statement issued early yesterday.
The Italian family would own as much as 25 percent of the group after the combination.
Dufry, the world’s biggest duty-free group, would then bid for the rest of Autogrill, with investors receiving either 0.158 new Dufry share or 6.33 euros in cash for each share in the Italian company. The cash offer would value the Italian company at about 2.44 billion euros (US$2.47 billion).
The offer price for minority investors is below Autogrill’s closing price on Friday, as it is calculated on a three-month average before the initial report on the talks.
The travel retail group emerging from a deal between Dufry and the Benettons had a combined market value of more than US$6 billion when preliminary talks were first reported in April. Dufry chief executive officer Xavier Rossinyol would lead the combined group, according to the statement.
The combination with Dufry is the second major deal in recent months for Alessandro Benetton, who took the reins at family holding Edizione Holding SpA earlier this year. The Benettons in April agreed with Blackstone Inc to take highway operator Atlantia SpA private, valuing the highway operator at 19 billion euros.
Alessandro Benetton would be named honorary chairman of Dufry. The family would also name two of its executives as deputy chairmen. Autogrill CEO Gianmario Tondato would be named head of North America operations.
Despite a recent round of chaos at airports across Europe, the travel industry has been bouncing back strongly from a brutal two-year stretch, with air-passenger numbers now edging close to pre-pandemic levels.
In this context, Dufry and Autogrill “could garner operational gains” in a combination, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
Autogrill and Dufry historically have led in global concessions catering and travel retail respectively and overlap mainly in Europe and North America, so they could garner operational gains in a tie-up, including favorable rents, purchasing and logistics. The two have some product alignment, especially in the US, with Autogrill having acquired convenience retail brands in the past six years, while Dufry is expanding in food service.
Still, some analysts see only limited opportunities from synergies in combining airport and highway businesses, and some have pointed to financing hurdles given Dufry’s “depressed” operating cash flow.
The combined group would have 5,500 outlets at about 1,200 airports and other locations, the statement said. The deal would allow Dufry to build its presence in the US, while adding to other locations in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
“We are transforming our industry and redefining its boundaries, and we will create a new corporate identity to reflect this fundamental move,” Rossinyol said in the statement.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
RECORD LOW: Global firms’ increased inventories, tariff disputes not yet impacting Taiwan and new graduates not yet entering the market contributed to the decrease Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said. “Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling
UNCERTAINTIES: The world’s biggest chip packager and tester is closely monitoring the US’ tariff policy before making any capacity adjustments, a company official said ASE Technology Holding Inc (日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, yesterday said it is cautiously evaluating new advanced packaging capacity expansion in the US in response to customers’ requests amid uncertainties about the US’ tariff policy. Compared with its semiconductor peers, ASE has been relatively prudent about building new capacity in the US. However, the company is adjusting its global manufacturing footprint expansion after US President Donald Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs in April, and new import duties targeting semiconductors and other items that are vital to national security. ASE subsidiary Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) is participating in Nvidia
RSS