Buyout agency CVC weighs £6bn bid for duty-free big Avolta

CVC Capital Companions, the buyout agency which owns a stake in rugby’s Six Nations Championship, is exploring a £6bn takeover bid for Avolta, the duty-free retail and journey catering big.

Sky Information has learnt that CVC is on the early levels of contemplating a proposal for Avolta, which is headquartered and listed in Switzerland.

Any takeover proposal might be made along with the billionaire Benetton household, which holds a big minority stake within the firm following the merger of Autogrill and Dufry in 2023.

Sources near the state of affairs mentioned it was removed from sure that CVC would make a proper method to take Avolta personal.

Alessandro Benetton, a former Autogrill board member, serves as Avolta’s honorary chairman.

Avolta’s world retail property sells merchandise made by lots of the world’s best-known manufacturers, together with Apple, Clinique, Tag Heuer and Lego.

It employs roughly 75,000 individuals and has a presence in 75 international locations, comprising about 1,200 airports and quite a few different journey areas.

CVC declined to remark, whereas Avolta didn’t reply to an enquiry from Sky Information.

Shares in Avolta have been buying and selling at round CHF41.16 on Tuesday afternoon, giving the corporate a market capitalisation of CHF5.94bn (£5.4bn).