Unieuro, the takeover bid restarts: now the French are aiming for 90%. Morgan Stanley is at 10,2%. Unions on alert

Opa Unieuro, act two. Fnac-Darty does not stop and after having purchased 71,5%, now wants reach 90% of the capital in order to proceed more quickly towards the delisted of the Ravenna-based company founded almost 90 years ago.

In the first part of the takeover bid, the decisive one, which took place from 2 September to 25 October, Fnac Darty, which is part of the galaxy of Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky together with the French daily newspaper Le Monde and the Royal Mail, the British Post Office, has risen from 4,4% to 71,5%, offering around 12 euros for each share (9 in cash, while another 3 are the value corresponding to French shares). The 71,5%, for a total value of close to 250 million, is more than the “minimum threshold” which corresponds to two thirds. From today and until Friday 8th November, the takeover bid is reopened for a second and final phase, with the aim of reaching 90%.

Morgan Stanley has reached 10,2%

The operation has split the board of directors of Unieuro, which last October 18 decided by majority not to contribute its own shares, equal to 0,34% of the capital. To date, pending the delivery of the shares to Fnac-Darty and Ruby, the shareholding of Unieuro appears rather fragmented. 12,09% is in the hands of Iliad, 6,12% is in the hands of the family of Giuseppe Silvestrini, son of the founder Vittorio, while 5,1% is held by Amundi.

In the meantime, Morgan Stanley, at the request of Consob, specified on Sunday that it had increased its stake in Unieuro through its funds above 10% (10,2%) on October 23, almost doubling its position in the company, adding that it was not acting in concert with third parties and that in the next 6 months it could acquire/dispose additional shares or financial instruments in Unieuro, “in particular in the context of facilitating customer-related activities and in line with our normal business course. This could result in Morgan Stanley’s holdings exceeding/falling below the relevant threshold of 10%”.

At stake is not only the control of a brand with more than 500 stores and a significant presence in online commerce, but also the professional destiny of hundreds of employees, so i sindacati I’m already on alert.