Conforama was trigger happy today as it made a third offer for Darty, less than an hour after Fnac raised its own.
After abandoning its pursuit of Argos in March, Steinhoff announced its first bid for the French electronics chain through its subsidiary Conforama. Conforama‘s newest bid, which values Darty at 160p per share, came less than an hour after Fnac, its main competition for Darty, increased its own bid to 153p per share, and all this followed another set of bids earlier in the day.
Though seemingly neck and neck, Conforama managed to gain an advantage over Fnac, announcing that it had acquired 19.5% of Darty‘s share capital for a cost of 138p per share, which it said it would offer to shareholders. Earlier this month the board of Darty unanimously recommended a previous offer from Conforama for 138p per share.
The bidding remains open until 10 June.
Earlier in the day, a Darty spokesperson said it would “carefully consider” both offers for its shareholders. It has not openly expressed a preference for either bidder.
According to Fnac, if it managed to acquire Darty it would offer “compelling financial benefits to the combined group, including total annual pre-tax synergies of at least €130m [£102.5m] per annum.”
