Starwood Capital Buys French Champagne Producer Taittinger Group
Staff Writer - July 26, 2005
 The American Starwood Capital investment group reached an agreement to buy the French Champagne producer, Taittinger Group, valued €1.166 billion, as well as its subsidiary Société du Louvre, valued €1.691 billion. The Taittinger Group announced in an official statement that Starwood Capital would pay €2.86 billion, in a buyout operation scheduled in several stages.
The announcement made on Friday, July 22, 2005, rocked the Paris stock market, where the Taittinger Group shares fell 10.39%, to €332, and the Société du Louvre dropped by 6.03% to €146.50 in a stable market environment.
Initially, Starwood will repurchase all of the Taittinger family, Albert Frère and Peugeot family participation, that is to say the 65% of Taittinger and the 65.48% of the Société du Louvre.
Quoted by the Wall Street Journal, the chairman of Starwood Capital, Barry Sternlicht, declared that, after consulting with the Taittinger family, he planned to sell the Champagne producing business of the group, and that it could be sold to a French group, qualifying this activity as a national treasure.
Starwood Capital is an investment funds specialized in real estate created in 1991. Its portfolio includes residential and commercial properties, such as office buildings, hotels, health centers and golf courses, among others.
The Taittinger family announced at the end of June the intention to proceed quickly with the sale of the whole group. The CNP group (Compagnie Nationale à Portefeuilles), owned by the Belgian investor Albert Frère, holder of 25% of the Taittinger Group, indicated that it would follow suite.
| Source: Agence France-Presse – Translated from French by WineCountry.IT |
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