Out-of-town footwear giant Brantano is being stalked by European retail conglomerate Macintosh Retail Group, which will launch a 160 million (£111m) bid for the company.
Brantano has been seeking investment for more than a year and if shareholders approve the 55 (3836p)-per-share deal, the merged firm would form one of Europe’s largest footwear businesses.
Macintosh Retail Group runs the Dolcis fascia in the Netherlands, and has 450 footwear stores under the Scapino, Manfield, Invito and PRO sports fascias in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. It also owns Dutch homewares chains Kwantum and GP Decors.
The Brantano acquisition would give the group a turnover of about £439m.
Brantano chief executive Kurt Moons was happy with the offer. “The price offered is a 30% premium on the current share price. I expect everything to be settled by the end of the year,” he said.
He added that the current company strategy would not change under new ownership, with all jobs, including his own, to be retained. “That was very important to us. The strategy has been good and we have agreed to continue with that,” he said.
Moon admitted that the business had received interest from UK trade players, although none had committed to a deal.
Macintosh is expected to call a shareholder meeting on November 15 to discuss its plans to buy Brantano.
Investment firms Mitiska and Sobradis, which own 56% of Brantano’s shares, have already agreed to the offer. The Brantano board said in a statement that the approach is being viewed as a “friendly bid”.
Brantano has 125 stores in Belgium, four in Luxembourg, 146 in the UK and 11 franchise stores in the Middle East.
Macintosh Retail Group runs the Dolcis fascia in the Netherlands, and has 450 footwear stores under the Scapino, Manfield, Invito and PRO sports fascias in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. It also owns Dutch homewares chains Kwantum and GP Decors.
The Brantano acquisition would give the group a turnover of about £439m.
Brantano chief executive Kurt Moons was happy with the offer. “The price offered is a 30% premium on the current share price. I expect everything to be settled by the end of the year,” he said.
He added that the current company strategy would not change under new ownership, with all jobs, including his own, to be retained. “That was very important to us. The strategy has been good and we have agreed to continue with that,” he said.
Moon admitted that the business had received interest from UK trade players, although none had committed to a deal.
Macintosh is expected to call a shareholder meeting on November 15 to discuss its plans to buy Brantano.
Investment firms Mitiska and Sobradis, which own 56% of Brantano’s shares, have already agreed to the offer. The Brantano board said in a statement that the approach is being viewed as a “friendly bid”.
Brantano has 125 stores in Belgium, four in Luxembourg, 146 in the UK and 11 franchise stores in the Middle East.
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