Vista Capital joins bidding race for Aldeasa

John Gallagher

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A new name makes public its interest in the Spanish retailer, reports suggest

Spanish financial daily Expansion reports today that venture capital company Vista Capital, a joint venture between Banco Santander Central Hispano and the Royal Bank of Scotland, is preparing to join the race to acquire Spanish travel retailer Aldeasa.

Following the Eu29 bid per share from the GEA consortium in December, financial analysts had predicted that the venture capital specialists would cast an eye over Aldeasa

For the past month, shares have been trading comfortably ahead of the Eu 29 bid offered by GEA and analysts have suggested that a rival bid or an improved offer from GEA would be necessary to ensure shareholder acceptance. An analysis of the GEA offer document indicates they have finance in place to increase their bid, although initially they claimed that no increase would be forthcoming, arguing that the bid was fully valued.

Yesterday Advent International confirmed to stock market regulator CNMV that it was studying a bid and a decision is expected within the next few days. If Advent goes ahead, the level at which it pitches the bid will provoke interest. With its experience of the duty-free market via its shareholding in Dufry and inside knowledge of Aldeasa and the Spanish airport business via senior executives Julian Diaz and José Antonio Gea, Advent has a good idea what the business is worth, what cost savings can be made and what added value it can bring to the business.

Principal shareholder Altadis will be delighted if a bidding race starts in earnest. However what happens after the event is equally important. Once the dust settles, the new owners will need to make their investment work and if they overpay, questions will be asked whether the new owners are able to increase the return from the business to pay for the investment.

Spanish airport authority AENA will be looking on with interest. The Tenerife South tender has already been called and other airports will follow over the next 18 months. New commercial space will become available in Barcelona, Malaga and Alicante as new terminals are completed. The authority will be looking to increase commercial earnings to help finance network expansion and their objectives may clash with a new owner who needs to generate additional profit to pay for his investment.