Richemont in bid for online retailer

Swiss luxury brands conglomerate Richemont, which is controlled by the Stellenbosch-based Rupert family, has pitched a €2.7bn offer to buy out online high-end fashion retailer Yoox Net-a-Porter.

Swiss luxury brands conglomerate Richemont, which is controlled by the Stellenbosch-based Rupert family, has pitched a €2.7bn offer to buy out online high-end fashion retailer Yoox Net-a-Porter (YNAP).

Richemont – which owns brands such Cartier, Piaget and Mont Blanc – already holds a 49% stake in the Milan stock exchange-listed YNAP.

On Monday, Richemont advised it had made a voluntary public tender offer to acquire all the issued shares of YNAP that it did not already own. The offer has been pitched at €38/share – a considerable premium to the YNAP share price last week.

The proposed offer has meant YNAP has waived a standstill obligation (dating back to early 2015 when Yoox acquired Net-a-Porter from Richemont) that would have precluded the luxury goods conglomerate from buying more shares in the business.

Federico Marchetti, the CEO of YNAP, has already given an irrevocable undertaking to accept Richemont’s offer.

Marchetti said the prospect of no longer owning 4% of the YNAP share capital did not change his entrepreneurial commitment to the company.

“Dreaming and innovating to the benefit of our customers has always been my motivation; it will remain so in the years to come,” he said.

Richemont – which has a sturdy and cash flush balance sheet — aimed to provide additional resources that further strengthened and accelerated YNAP’s long-term leadership in online luxury, he said.

“This means investing even more in product, technology, logistics, people and marketing.” Richemont chairman Johann Rupert said the group was proud to have participated in the growth of Net-a-Porter since its infancy and played a role in the creation of YNAP.

“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,” he said.

Richemont was pleased with the results achieved by YNAP’s management team. “We intend to support them going forward to execute their strategy and further accelerate the growth of the business.”

As part of Richemont, YNAP would continue to operate as a separate business. This would ensure YNAP that it remained a neutral and highly attractive platform for third-party luxury brands, he said.