An information memorandum about the sale of the retail activities of Grandi Stazioni group gas been delivered yesterday to the 17 consortiums who expressed interest in the deal last December, the Italian rail operator  Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane  said yesterday  (download here the press release).
Grandi Stazioni group is controlled with a 60% stake by Ferrovie dello Stato while the remaining 40% is held by Eurostazioni spa (Edizione srl , Vianini lavori, Pirelli e Sncf). The group had put on sale its retail activities last Spring  (see here a previous post by BeBeez and a press release).
FS’s press release explains that non binding offers are to be delivered by the end of February while it had not been fixes any deadline for presenting binding bids but the whole sale process is expected to be closed by the end of June.
By the end of June it will be also finalized the non proportional spin off of Grandi Stazioni’s businesses in three different companies (see here the press release). Retail activities will been spun off in a newco called GS Retail, while real estate and engineering activites will been spun off in other two newcos, respectively GS Immobiliare and GS Rail.
GS Immobiliare will own the real estate assets of the group and will be owned by FS and Eurostazioni in the same proportion of Grandi Stazioni (that is 60%-40%); GS Rail will be 100% owned by FS; and finally GS Retail will see a higher stake for private investors (45%) than the one in the original group.
GS Retail is said to be valued about 800 million euros and there is a very long list of potential bidders with private equity funds, infrastructure funds, sovereign funds and real estate operators among them.
More in detail, potential investors partecipating to the auction are said to be sovereign funds from Abu Dhabi (Adia),  Qatar (Qia) , SIngapore (Gic) and Italy itself (Fondo Strategico Italiano);  real estate operators with a retail sector focus such as Klepierre and  Unibal Rodamco; private equity funds such as Cinven, Blackstone, Lonestar, Bain Capital,  BC Partners, Carlyle  Clessidra, CVC and Permira; and infrastructure funds such as Antin, Ardian, Deutsche Bank or Italy’s F2i.
