Switzerland's Dufry to buy Benettons’ Autogrill, forming $6 billion group

Switzerland's Dufry AG agreed to buy Autogrill SpA from the Italian billionaire Benetton family, creating a new $6 billion player in the travel retail market.

The Benettons, who control Autogrill, will transfer their 50.3% stake to Dufry, receiving 0.158 new Dufry share for each Autogrill share, according to a statement early Monday. The Italian family will own as much as 25% of the group after the combination.

Dufry, the world's biggest duty-free group, will than bid for the rest of Autogrill, with investors receiving either 0.158 new Dufry share or ₹6.33 ($6.4253) in cash for each share in the Italian company. The cash offer would value the Italian company at about ₹2.44 billion.


Dufry and the Benettons have been talking about a potential tie-up for months, following a series of informal approaches over the past few years.