(BFM Bourse) – Via his Vesa Equity holding company, the businessman now owns just over 25% of the specialized distribution group. This while BFM Business reported last month its desire to buy the shares of Ceconomy, another reference shareholder of the company.
Daniel Kretinsky is slowly strengthening his influence over Fnac Darty. The Czech businessman has, according to an opinion from the Financial Markets Authority quoted by Reuters, increased his stake in the distribution group of household appliances and cultural products, to bring it to 25.03% of the capital. , while still owning only 20% at the end of last month.
This capital reinforcement was done via the acquisition of shares on the market by Vesa Equity, the businessman’s holding company. According to the Agefi-Dow Jones agency, the AMF notice indicates that this company plans to continue purchasing securities depending on market conditions, but does not intend to acquire control of the group.
This move comes as BFM Business reported last month that Daniel Kretinsky intended to buy out the stake of Fnac Darty’s other major reference shareholder, Ceconomy, a German group very similar to Fnac Darty, which owns 20% of the capital.
Towards a takeover of Cdiscount?
By buying Ceconomy’s share, Daniel Kretinsky could consider taking Fnac Darty out of the stock market, since it would cross the threshold of 30% of the capital, synonymous with a mandatory takeover bid. Still, if approaches took place last year, Ceconomy does not intend to sell its shares, according to sources from BFM Business.
“We understand that Daniel Kretinsky does not have a simple financial investor profile but intends to take on a more strategic role, with a desire to put Fnac Darty back into a more offensive movement with acquisitions. However, this profile requires patience, long time, which is not really the time of the market”, explained at the end of February to BFM Bourse Clément Genelot, analyst at Bryan Garnier & Co.
According to BFM Business, Daniel Kretinsky would like Fnac Darty to make acquisitions, which is also the company’s ambition. But the immobility of Ceconomy handicaps the company in its desire to participate in the consolidation of the market. The Czech businessman and Fnac Darty both have views on Cdiscount, currently owned by the Casino group. But the latter could one day sell it to accelerate its deleveraging.
“We can think that Daniel Kretinsky has the will to buy Cdiscount in all cases, whether Fnac Darty is still listed or not. And if Ceconomy continues to obstruct, the businessman could well plead for Fnac Darty acquires Cdiscount via a capital increase that would be reserved for it, which would potentially dilute Ceconomy and also reduce the share price”, continued Clément Genelot. This hypothesis had also been mentioned by BFM Business.
Julien Marion – ©2023 BFM Bourse
