Fourlis moves into Turkey; shares rise
Fourlis Holdings, the Greek franchisee for flat-pack furniture maker IKEA, said on Thursday it has agreed to buy a 75 percent stake in Turkey’s Intersport retail network for ten million euros.
Shares in Fourlis jumped 3.34 percent to 6.16 euros in mid session trade on the Athens bourse after news of the deal, outperforming the broader market which was up 1.14 percent.
Fourlis, which owns 55 Intersport stores in Greece, Romania and Cyprus, said the deal initially involves the acquisition of 20 stores ahead of a targetted network expansion to 50 branches in the next five to eight years.
«The agreement in Turkey is of strategic importance,» the company said in a bourse filing.
Fourlis will have management control of the new company that will own the network, Intersport Atletik, while the remaiming 25 percent will be held current owners, it added.
With the deal possibly opening more business opportunities for Fourlis in Turkey, Proton Bank said that it likes the fact that the Athens based company is setting foot in the neighbouring country due to the favourable demographics and strong macroeconomic conditions.
«Although the move will not alter significantly out short to mid term forecasts…we are positive for the longer term prospectss that the deal generates,» Proton Bank said in an note to investors.
