D“Ieteren, Belgium“s largest car distributor, said its autoglass replacement subsidiary Belron had signed a deal to buy Safelite Group Inc., the US market leader, for USD 334 million.
The value of …
D“Ieteren, Belgium“s largest car distributor, said its autoglass replacement subsidiary Belron had signed a deal to buy Safelite Group Inc., the US market leader, for USD 334 million. The value of the deal, which is subject to local regulatory approval, includes assumed debt of about USD 85 million. The acquisition is expected to close in March 2007. World market leader Belron, in which D“Ieteren has a 73.7% stake, entered the US market in 2005 via a number of smaller acquisitions. “Since these initial acquisitions, Belron has continued to explore various options to expand its geographic presence”, D“Ieteren said in a statement on 6 February 2007. “This acquisition will be entirely financed by Belron through the issuance of new debt instruments, on its own financing capacity”, D“Ieteren said. KBC Securities analyst Pascale Weber said the deal initially appeared good, with an implied 5.5% increase in pretax profit based on the suggested proforma figure for 2006. “There“s also no dilution for D“Ieteren shares as Belron is financing it through debt. For the Belron business, it reinforces their global presence”, she said, adding that Belron“s turnover was set to increase by 30%. “There“s also been mention of economies of scale and the spreading of best practices”, she added. The takeover is set to increase Belron“s overall sales to around EUR 2 billion. Safelite had sales of around USD 592 million for the year to 31 March 2006 and would have increased D“Ieteren“s 2006 group pretax earnings by EUR 8 million on a pro forma basis.