Press release - Telenet purchases BelCompany Belgium
Thursday, June 25, 2009 — Macintosh Retail Group NV has reached agreement with Telenet on the sale of its BelCompany stores and points of sale in Belgium, as well as its head office in Mechelen. The transfer will take effect as from 30 June 2009. The staff in the relevant stores and in head office will transfer to Telenet under the same terms and conditions of employment.
BelCompany is the second largest independent supplier of mobile telecom and related products in Belgium. Its range comprises the latest products and the widest possible choice of mobile phones, subscriptions, accessories and pre-paid products of all brands, as well as Internet products. BelCompany stores are situated at prime locations in all medium-sized and large cities, thus operating near the customer. The 15 Discovery Stores which BelCompany operates will not be included in the transaction.
Duco Sickinghe, CEO of Telenet: "The acquisition of BelCompany Belgium brings Telenet literally even closer to its customers. BelCompany offers Telenet the possibility on the one hand to make its mobile offering more widely available and on the other hand to develop an improved service offering for its existing products. The BelCompany network is very well positioned and complementary with our existing dealer network. This transaction will have no material impact on the consolidated result of Telenet, and we also expect the additional synergy will allow us to realize a number of advantages. The management of BelCompany Belgium remains unchanged and will develop the existing strategy based on multi brand offering with great endeavour."
Frank De Moor, CEO of Macintosh Retail Group: "We have concluded that Telenet offers substantially better growth opportunities for BelCompany Belgium. Another significant factor is that it is virtually impossible to support the Belgian operations from the profitable BelCompany Netherlands operations, which will remain part of Macintosh Retail Group. The sale of BelCompany Belgium to Telenet and Telenet's high brand awareness will undoubtedly reinvigorate the stores. Furthermore, the sale will have a small positive impact on Macintosh Retail Group's net result for the whole of 2009 (excluding non-recurring items), partly due to the selling price of 6 million."
Leonardo & Co and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP acted as the principal advisors to Macintosh Retail Group.
KBC Securities and Laga Advocaten acted as the principal advisors to Telenet.