Dixons Carphone today announces that it has entered into an agreement to dispose of a majority 83% stake in its Dutch business: The Phone House Netherlands BV. Relevant Holdings BV will acquire the majority stake, a company set up by the shareholders of Optie1, a company with extensive experience of telecom retailing in the Dutch market.
Following completion, which is expected to take place by the end of June, the electrical and telecoms retailer and services company will remain a minority shareholder and will further develop its Connected World Sevices‘ partnerships in the Netherlands, initially through an insurance and technical support contract, with scope to expand this further in the future.
Commenting on the transaction, Sebastian James, Dixons Carphone Group Chief Exec, said:
“I am delighted to announce this partnership for Phone House Netherlands, alongside a long-term contract for the provision of insurance and technical support services, through our Connected World Services division. Optie1 is an experienced telecom and retail company, making it the perfect partner in this market.
Following last week‘s disposal of The Phone House Deutschland, this is another step in our clear strategic plan to focus on our core retail business in markets where we have scale and real relevance to customers, whilst growing through service partnerships in the wider international arena. We look forward to building a strong and healthy business together.”
Henk Kamsteeg, Supervisory Board Chairman of Relevant Holdings, added:
“Our aim is to maintain the existing Phone House and Optie1 brands and sub-brands in the market as separate brands. Phone House and Optie1 will be positioned differently, with the Optie1 telecom stores mainly located in smaller cities and Phone House stores in larger cities. We are looking forward to cooperating with the great people at Dixons Carphone to further develop our quality and highly customer focused telecom retail businesses in The Netherlands.”
