The Board of Directors of Esselunga has appointed US investment bank Citigroup to assess the non-binding bids from private equity funds who have expressed an interest in the Italian retailer.
In recent months, Blackstone submitted an expression of interest for 60% of Esselunga, with an option on the remaining 40% of the group, in case the founder decides to sell all. Another bid was filed by the CVC fund, after a thorough analysis of the retailer.
Also interested was the Advent fund, but in the end pulled out of the operation.
Italian daily La Repubblica reported this week of renewed interest of the part of both US giant Walmart and France’s Carrefour, who in the past approached Caprotti but failed to persuade him to sell his company.
As for the evaluation of Esselunga, preliminary estimates range from €4 billion to €6 billion, although much will depend on how much of the company will be sold and which properties will be offered together with the supermarkets.
Esselunga is owned by Italian businessman Bernardo Caprotti and its network consists of over 155 supermarkets.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
