Lithuania’s Maxima Grupe offers to buy Polish retail chain Stokrotka

Retail acquisition news : Lithuanian retail chain Maxima Grupe has offered to acquire 100% of Emperia Holding, the controlling stakeholder and operator of Polish retail chain Stokrotka for nearly PLN1.19 billion (€283 million).

The parties have signed an investment agreement and will see Maxima submit a tender for the proposed acquisition.

Stokrotka operates 410 stores in Poland. The Polish retail company enjoys a market share of around 20% in the proximity store segment.

Its owner Emperia has about 8,200 employees and last year had registered revenue of PLN2,451 billion (€582 million).

Polish retail chain Stokrotka store. Photo courtesy of Wuhazet Henryk Żychowski/Wikipedia.org.

Commenting on the proposed Maxima Grupe acquisition of Emperia, Petras Jašinskas, the chairman of the Maxima Grupė board, said: “Stokrotka is one of the leading food retail chains in the Polish market. We believe that attractive store formats and strong management team provide necessary foundations for successful chain’s development in the future.

“Emperia group also owns a portfolio of real estate properties that supplements its retail business well. Therefore Maxima Grupė is excited about prospects of acquiring Emperia and the opportunity to increase our exposure to the growing Polish food retail market.”

On the other hand, the Lithuanian retail chain Maxima Grupe controls retail store chains – Maxima in Baltics states, supermarket chain Aldik in Poland, T-Market in Bulgaria and Barbora, an online grocery store that sells food and daily consumer goods.

Under the proposal, Emperia Holding shareholders would get zł100 per share.

Emperia CEO Dariusz Kalinowski, commenting on the proposed Maxima Grupe acquisition of Emperia, said: “MAXIMA was selected as a strategic investor for Emperia in an open and competitive process.

“We believe MAXIMA is an ideal match for us, an investor that will support further growth of the Company”.

As per the tender offer conditions, Maxima Grupė could withdraw from the proposal if less than 66% of shares are submitted for sale or if other pre-agreed conditions are not satisfied.

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