Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- Fnac, which is in a bidding war for Darty with Steinhoff, is buying up shares on the market in the U.K. electronics retailer, according two people familiar with the trades.

• Two blocks in Darty totaling 19.4m traded today at 145p/share, the same price at which the improved Fnac offer was announced earlier
  • The volume is equivalent to ~4.7% of Darty free float or ~3.7% of shares outstanding
  • Peel Hunt, which is the broker to Fnac, has traded ~19.6m shares in Darty, has crossed 9.6m shares, according to three people familiar with the trades
• The U.K. takeover code states that a bidder must increase its offer for a takeover target if it acquires shares in the target at a price higher than value of the offer
• Note that Steinhoff’s Conforama has raised its bid for Darty to 150p/share after Fnac raised its to 145p/share topping an earlier increased offer from Conforama at 138p/share
  • Steinhoff unit Conforama has bought 103.2m Darty shares, or 19.5%, from Majedie, Schroder, Standard Life, UBS Asset Management at 138p/share
  • Darty has said it will carefully consider Steinhoff and Fnac offers
• Darty trades at a 2.3% premium to highest bid, currently up 16%, largest one day gain since Sep. 30 on 19.3x 3-month daily average
  • Exane earlier suggested that based on potential synergies Steinhoff could afford to pay as much as 160p/shares
• Peel Hunt is the broker to Fnac, Citigroup, HSBC are the corporate brokers to Conforama