South Africa-based household goods company Steinhoff (SHF) announced on Friday that, at the general meeting of Steinhoff shareholders held earlier in the day, all the ordinary resolutions required to approve the Conforama transaction were passed with no opposing votes.
The group, which operates in Africa, continental €ope, the Pacific Rim and the United Kingdom, announced on February 1 that it had reached an agreement with PPR to acquire 99,8% of the share capital of Conforama Holdings for €1,207-million, or R11,04-billion.
PPR, led by chairperson and CEO François-Henri Pinault, is a French multinational holding company specialising in luxury and consumer brands — including Puma, Redcats and the Gucci Group, which owns Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Boucheron, Sergio Rossi, Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney.
Conforama is a leading retailer of furniture and household goods and operates from a network of 241 stores, of which 190 stores are located in France — making it France’s second-largest furniture and household goods retailer.
On Thursday, the company announced that it would issue €450-million of bonds to fund the acquisition.
The senior unsecured guaranteed convertible bonds will mature on March 31 2018 and pay a coupon of 4,5% semi-annually. The bonds are rated Ba1 with a stable outlook by Moody’s Investors Service.
Joint bookrunners Citigroup Global Markets and BNP Paribas SA were granted an overall allotment option of up to €50-million in an aggregate principal amount of bonds exercisable up to close of business in South Africa on March 14 2011.
The initial conversion price was set at R31,78 a share, representing a 32% premium over the volume weighted average price from launch to pricing.
The company said that the bonds would be convertible into about 148-million ordinary Steinhoff shares, assuming the overall allotment option was exercised in full by the joint bookrunners. — I-Net Bridge