French luxury products group Taittinger and its main subsidiary Societe du Louvre are to be bought by US investment fund Starwood Capital in a complex deal valuing the two companies at EUR 2.857 billi…
French luxury products group Taittinger and its main subsidiary Societe du Louvre are to be bought by US investment fund Starwood Capital in a complex deal valuing the two companies at EUR 2.857 billion (USD 3.480 billion), Groupe Taittinger said 22 July 2005. The terms valued luxury goods unit Societe du Louvre-Groupe du Louvre at EUR 1.691 billion, the group said. The cash deal comes about three weeks after Claude Taittinger, chairman of the group“s supervisory board, put the company up for sale with the aim of concluding a deal by the end of July 2005. The sale came in a week in which the attention of the French business world was focused on PepsiCo, which was rumoured to be interested in acquiring French dairy group Danone. The French stock market regulator said on 25 July 2005 that it had received notice from the US soft drinks giant that it was not mounting a bid. The Taittinger family, one of the last families in France to lead a business empire, owns 37.8% of the Taittinger group. Taittinger Groupe is the controlling shareholder in unit Societe du Louvre, with a 44.1% holding and 53.2% of the voting rights. Societe du Louvre, which owns crystal producer Baccarat, contributes the majority of revenues to Groupe Taittinger. In the initial phase of the deal, Starwood will buy the shares owned in the two companies by the Taittinger family, by Compagnie nationale de participations controlled by Belgian financier Albert Frere, and by the Peugeot family“s FFP. The combined stakes add up to 65% of Groupe Taittinger and 65.48% of Societe du Louvre, representing about EUR 1.2 billion. In a second stage, Starwood Capital will offer to buy the remaining, publicly traded shares in the two companies. Groupe Taittinger said that the deal, agreed on 22 July 2005 and subject to regulatory approval, was expected to be concluded in the 3Q of the year. Starwood Capital is a privately held real estate investment fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut, with an international portfolio that includes residential and commercial property, health clubs and golf courses.