Homburger advised Dufry on the strategic joint venture with Alibaba Group

On October 5, 2020, Dufry announced that Dufry and Alibaba Group have agreed to enter into a collaboration to jointly explore and invest in opportunities in China to develop the travel retail business and to enhance Dufry’s digital transformation, and to form a JV.

Dufry further announced that the willingness to propose an ordinary capital increase of 25 m new shares, which would result in gross proceeds of approximately CHF 700 m from the previously announced rights offering. The envisaged proceeds are planned to be used to finance the previously announced acquisition of all remaining equity interest in Hudson Ltd. (NYSE: HUD) and for general corporate purposes, which may include the setup and operations of the JV.

In connection with this collaboration and the rights offering, Dufry has secured a CHF 250 m equity investment commitment from Alibaba Group to purchase offered shares not taken up by existing shareholders or purchased by Advent International, up to a maximum of 9.99% of the post-offering share capital in Dufry. Alibaba Group agreed to invest at the same price per share as Advent International, which has previously committed to invest up to CHF 455 m at CHF 28.50, even if the offer price determined in the bookbuilding procedure should be lower.

The advisor

Homburger acts as counsel to Dufry. The team was led by partners Frank Gerhard (pictured) and Andreas Müller and comprised associates Marc Hanslin and Carlo Sulser and junior associates Philipp Stiegeler and Daniel Madani (all Capital Markets; Corporate | M&A) as well as partners Richard Stäuber (Competition | Regulatory) and Dieter Grünblatt (Tax).

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