Italy’s largest upholstery retailer is to pay a 66% premium to buy ScS as it looks to enter the UK market.
Poltronesofà is to pay 280p a share, compared to ScS’s 169p valuation yesterday. It values the chain at £99.38m.
‘As the next step of Poltronesofà’s pan-European expansion, the acquisition represents the best opportunity for Poltronesofà to enter the United Kingdom market of upholstery products. Poltronesofà believes it is strategically very well placed to support ScS in the next stage of its development, and by building on the combined industry knowledge and experience and providing the necessary capital to accelerate ScS’s ambitions, the acquisition will help ScS realise its full growth potential,’ says Renzo Ricci, Poltronesofà ceo.
‘This cash offer, which the ScS board unanimously recommends, comes at an attractive valuation. It recognises the quality of the ScS Group’s operations, its cash resources, and the progress accomplished under Steve Carson’s leadership via his refreshed strategy. Poltronesofà, based in Italy, is a pan-European sofa retailer that has been successfully pursuing international expansion and ScS, with UK operations, is the next juncture of that strategy. The ScS board believes Poltronesofà will bring significant benefits to ScS through its broad industry expertise in addition to providing the necessary capital that would accelerate our current strategy, albeit in a private rather than public sphere. The acquisition will enable ScS to continue as part of a broader, pan-European entity in pursuit of its strategy and position it for long-term success in the UK,’ says Alan Smith, ScS chairman.
Poltronesofà operates 167 stores in Italy, 106 France, 15 in Belgium, nine in Switzerland, two in Cyprus and one in Malta.
