Warsaw-listed Polish online retail platform Allegro is reportedly negotiating the acquisition of Czech e-retailer Mall Group, Czech media reported.
The talks are nearing finalization, the Czech economic newspaper Hospodarske Noviny wrote on September 14, citing an anonymous source. The source also said that it was still too early to say that the negotiations would eventually end in Allegro striking a deal.
Allegro was first reported as interested in taking over Mall Group in May. The Czech company’s valuation was estimated at up to €2bn at the time.
Mall Group’s shareholders comprise of PPF, an investment fund founded by the late Czech business tycoon Petr Kellner, who died in a helicopter accident in Alaska earlier this year, as well as billionaires Daniel Křetínský and Patrik Tkáč via EC Investments, and Rockaway Capital, owned by Jakub Havrlant.
Mall Group is Czechia’s second-largest online retailer. It only became profitable last year on the back of the e-commerce boom in Czechia due to the pandemic. In Poland, intermittent lockdowns also led to a surge in online shopping, which also boosted auxiliary services like parcel delivery.
Poland’s Allegro has long been the country’s dominant e-retailer with a market share of around 35%. The company debuted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in a PLN9.2bn (€2bn) IPO in October, the biggest new listing in Europe at the time.
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