The Mexican group FEMSA seeks to buy the Swiss retailer Valora for 1,135 million dollars

One of the kiosks of the Valora conglomerate in a square in Switzerland. Valora Group

The Mexican Economic Development group (FEMSA) seeks to buy the Swiss conglomerate of stores and kiosks Valora for about 1,100 million Swiss francs (1,135 million dollars or 23,372 million Mexican pesos), as announced by both companies on Tuesday.

The Mexican company has proposed 260 Swiss francs per share for the company, which has a network of retail stores, kiosks and food outlets in Europe.

The proposal represents a premium of 52% with respect to the closing price the day before and an increase of 57.3% with respect to the price of the securities in the last 60 days, as reported by the companies in a statement.

Valora's board of directors unanimously recommended that its shareholders accept the offer.

Its largest shareholder, Ernst Peter Ditsch, supports the offer and wants to contribute his titles, according to the information released.

FEMSA and @ValoraGroup join forces: A solid foundation to jointly develop the #convenience and #foodservice market leader in Europe.

Learn more about this operation here: https://t.co/pnrDc0z26A

— FEMSA (@FEMSA) July 5, 2022

Valora has about 2,700 stores in busy places, such as train stations in Switzerland, but also in Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Among the various brands that make up the group there are kiosks, confectioneries, tobacco distributors, cafeterias and sandwich shops.

Mexico's FEMSA is currently the world's largest bottler for the

brand .

Both companies expect to close the transaction between now and early October, depending on regulatory clearance.

“The transaction will create a formidable player in the convenience store and

market in Europe, serving an increasingly mobile and digital customer base,” the statement read.

Valora will continue to operate under its current name and will be the trading arm of FEMSA's Proximity Division in Europe.

In addition, it will continue to be based in Muttenz (Switzerland), and will be responsible for developing the European convenience markets for the Mexican group.

Valora's brands and their formats will be maintained in accordance with the expansion and operations plans of the current management team.

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