Green light from the Antitrust for the sale of La Rinascente. The group will pass into the hands of Central Retail Corporation, leader of large-scale distribution in Thailand, with an annual turnover of more than two billion euros. The Authority had the last word on the maxi operation, after last May 27 the shareholders' meeting of the holding Ru (which holds 97% of the Italian company) had given the go-ahead for the sale.
Since the Thai group “is not active either in Italy or in the European Union – reads the latest weekly bulletin of the Antitrust – in these markets the mere replacement of one operator with another will be determined”. Therefore the transfer of ownership does not produce "the establishment or strengthening of a dominant position" such as to threaten the rules of competition. In short, it can be done.
As communicated at the end of May by Prelios, a 20% shareholder of the Italian group, "the consideration for the sale is equal to 205 million euros (equity value), which expresses an enterprise value estimated at approximately 260 million, equal to approximately 11 times Rinascente's Ebitda in 2010”. The transaction will allow Prelios to realize a capital gain of over 30 million euro. The improvement on the company's net financial position is expected to be approximately $33 million.
