Steinhoff International £644 million acquisition of Poundland

Overview:

• The European subsidiary of South African based retailer Steinhoff International has announced an initial bid to acquire British bargain retailer Poundland for £597 million.
• A second, improved, bid of £466 million was made in August 2016, valuing the retailer at £610.4 million. 
• Steinhoff is an integrated retailer that manufactures, sources and retails furniture, household goods and general merchandise in Europe, Africa and Australasia, it recently listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and has a market capitalisation of nearly €21 billion.
• Poundland is the largest single price value general merchandise retailer in Europe by both sales and by number of stores, with more than 900 across the UK.
• Steinhoff acquired clothing brand Pepkor in 2015 for a value in excess of $4 billion. 
• Crédit Agricole and UniCredit provided a £452 million bridge term loan to finance the transaction.  

John Crabb - Journalist