France's leading retail group Carrefour has announced that it is to take control of its Spanish unit Centros Commerciales Carrefour via a public exchange offer.
The French group said that the offer applied to the 20.3 per cent of CCC which it did not control, either directly or indirectly, a total of around 68.5 million shares. Carrefour will offer three of its shares in exchange for 10 shares of the Spanish unit, a premium of around 14 per cent on the closing price of CCC's shares on 17 September.
The transaction will be carried out using a mixture of Carrefour's treasury stock (around 12.7 million shares) and by issuing new shares which, if all of CCC's minority shareholders took up the offer, would reach 7.9 million.
The French company said that the acquisition of the remaining shares in CCC would reinforce its position in Europe, where it has already added units in Italy (GS, acquired in 2000) and Belgium (GB, bought in 2001) and restructured its Greek unit, Carrefour Marinopoulos.
CCC's shareholders, meanwhile, will benefit from the substantial premium offered by Carrefour, as well as gaining greater liquidity for their shares. They will also remain shareholders of the Carrefour group - one of the best performers on the French stock market.
The Spanish stock market authorities are still to approve the deal, but Carrefour said it expected it to be completed by December 2002. The transaction will also have a positive impact on Carrefour's earnings per share in 2003, the company predicted.
CCC operates in 16 autonomous communities throughout Spain under four different fascias: Carrefour (hypermarkets); Champion (supermarkets); Dia (convenience stores) and Puntocash (cash & carry).