May 28, 2011
MILAN (AFP) - Thailand's Central Retail Corporation will buy La Rinascente, a historic chain of Italian department stores, for 205 million euros ($293 million) under the terms of a deal announced on Friday.
The R/U holding that controls 97 percent of Rinascente approved the sale to CRC, the property fund Prelios, a leading shareholder, said in a statement.
The heir of the chain's founders, Maurizio Borletti, who holds a four-percent stake in La Rinascente, had tried to oppose the sale but a court in Milan earlier rejected his attempt to block it.
La Rinascente has 11 department stores in Italy's main cities.
Borletti together with Deutsche Bank bought the French chain Le Printemps in 2006 but failed in a bid last year to buy Germany's Karstadt.