Darty‘s board has asked its shareholders to accept Fnac‘s acquisition bid, which will put an end to any possible courting Darty may still receive from other parties.
France’s largest electronics retailer
Fnac was not the only one interested in acquiring Darty. South African Steinhoff was also willing to pay a huge sum, leading to a intense bidding war. Fnac now seems to have won that fight, but the real winner is Darty, raking in 900 million pounds (1.16 billion euro) when the deal is done.
Fnac considers Darty to be the ideal way to expand its product range, with a decreased dependence on the entertainment industry and increased household appliance sales. Once the deal is finalized, the merger company will become France’s largest electronics retailer.
Officially, Darty may be a British company at heart, but it is mostly active in the French market after it sold its onerous British activities in 2011.
