Aéroports de Paris (ADP) and Aelia hope to merge Duty Free Paris (DFP) and Société de Distribution Aéroportuaire (SDA) if Aelia’s offer to acquire all of the shares of the Nuance Group in Duty Free Paris is successful – and approved by the competition authorities.

Aelia said yesterday that it submitted an offer on March 23 to buy out Nuance’s shares in Duty Free Paris which operates all of the fashion and accessories retail outlets at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly airports.

EXCLUSIVE NEGOTIATION RIGHTS
Currently, Aelia has been granted a renewable negotiation exclusivity period of two months by the two shareholders in DFP – ADP and Nuance – to submit an acceptable offer for the shares.

If this sale is completed, ADP and Aelia will merge DFP with their joint venture Société de Distribution Aéroportuaire (SDA). ADP says it has already begun discussions towards this goal.

At the same time, Aelia – part of the Lagardère Services Group – plans to include its fashion and accessories activities operated by its fully-owned subsidiary Duty Free Associates into this structure.

ADP says that this operation would allow the two partners to pool resources and work on common development projects and opportunities to create additional sales and synergies on costs. 

If completed, Société de Distribution Aéroportuaire would operate 115 outlets across all Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly terminals, including 70 dedicated to core business and 45 dedicated to fashion and accessories.

‘A NEW MILESTONE…’
Pierre Graff, Chairman and Ceo of Aéroports de Paris, said: “The merger project between Société de Distribution Aéroportuaire and Duty Free Paris is a new milestone in the collaboration between Aéroports de Paris and Lagardère Services. Following on the establishment of a first joint venture in alcohol/tobacco/cosmetics and gastronomy activities, our two companies are deepening their partnership through fashion and accessories activities, which are very popular among our passengers. 

“We are convinced that this partnership will allow us to reach our ambition to become the referent of travel retail in Europe and to provide our customers with a unique experience.”

Jean-Baptiste Morin, Chairman of Aelia, said: “This project between Société de Distribution Aéroportuaire and Duty Free Paris marks a new step in the development of the very successful cooperation between Aéroports de Paris and Lagardère Services to which Aelia belongs. 

“This is a major development for our Group in the fashion and accessories segment that confirms the relevance of multi-category development strategy in travel retail.”

BACKGROUND: Between them, ADP and Aelia under the SDA umbrella operated a network of 121 shops in Paris Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports last year, generating a sales turnover of E.486m ($699m). 

Revenues at SDA and Duty Free Paris (ADP/Nuance) grew by 11.7% and 111.4% respectively in 2010, although DFP is a much, much smaller business that has only been running since February 2009.

Last February’s announcement that Aéroports de Paris (ADP) and Lagardère Services have extended their partnership within Société de Distribution Aéroportuaire until October 31, 2019 has created the platform for this new business opportunity for Aelia/SDA. 

However, it should be said that the fashion business – later renamed Duty Free Paris – at both Paris airports was originally tendered by ADP and Aelia did not bid for this business [The Travel Retail Business Magazine, July 2009-Ed]. Aelia reasoned then that the minimum guarantees and investment requirements in the economic climate at the time were regarded as ‘challenging’.

Duty Free Paris originally opened for business in February 2009 with the ambition of opening 40 points of sale covering over 5,000sq m at Paris Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports.