Swiss Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA is planning to acquire all of the Yoox Net-A-Porter Group SpA shares it doesn’t already own for a maximum price of 2.69 billion euros.
Commenting on the offer, Johann Rupert, Chairman of Richemont, said in a statement: “With this new step, we intend to strengthen Richemont’s presence and focus on the digital channel, which is becoming critically important in meeting luxury consumers’ needs. We are very pleased with the results achieved by Yoox Net-A-Porter Group’s management team, led by Federico Marchetti, and we intend to support them going forward to execute their strategy and further accelerate the growth of the business. As part of our group, YNAP Group would continue to operate as a separate business, ensuring it remains a neutral and highly attractive platform for third party luxury brands.”
In 2015, Yoox bought Richemont’s Net-A-Porter unit in a transaction that gave the Swiss company a 25 per cent voting stake and put the Italian company’s management in charge.
Richemont, the owner of luxury brands Cartier, IWC and Dunhill, announced the deal after the Italian company waived provisions stemming from the 2015 transaction that would have prevented Richemont from boosting its stake.
YNAP’s shares would be delisted from the Milan exchange, according to terms of the deal.
