MILANO (Reuters) -Italian food and beverage manufacturer Newprinces said on Friday it would consider other acquisitions, if the opportunity arises, after buying Carrefour’s loss-making business in Italy.
“The M&A market is not something that you can control… If we find an interesting opportunity we will try to get it”, Newprinces finance Fabio Fazzari said in a conference call.
The Carrefour Italia deal won’t change Newprinces plans for a potential public listing of its manufacturing unit on the London bourse, since the new assets will be put under a different division, Fazzari added.
Newprinces said on Thursday evening that it clinched an agreement to buy Carrefour Italia, the Italian unit of Europe’s biggest food retailer, for an equity value of 1 euro ($1.17).
Under the deal, which also includes 420 million euros of real estate assets according to a slide presentation during the conference call, the enterprise value has been set at 1 billion euros.
Newprinces shares were down 11.5% on the Milan stock exchange, hit by worries about the group’s leverage after the recent acquisitions, according to a trader.
Newprinces agreed this month to buy Kraft Heinz’s Italian infant and speciality businesses, including the Plasmon, Nipiol and Aproten brands, and in June signed a deal to purchase Diageo’s operations in Italy.
($1 = 0.8527 euros)
(Reporting by Elisa Anzolin, editing by Alvise Armellini)
