Deals
Sonae to Pause Hunt for Big Acquisitions If It Succeeds in Buying Pet-Care Firm Musti
- Portuguese holding company Sonae is leading an offer for Musti
- Sonae doesn’t like ‘very high’ levels of leverage, CFO says
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Sonae SGPS SA will likely stay out of any further big acquisitions in the coming years if it completes the planned purchase of Finnish pet-supplies retailer Musti Group Oyj, even as the owner of Portugal’s largest supermarket chain sees easing competition for deals.
The Portuguese holding company led an offer to buy Musti in November in a deal that valued the Finnish firm at €868 million ($939 million), making it “the biggest single bet probably in the 60 years of Sonae,” Chief Executive Officer Claudia Azevedo said in an interview in Helsinki. “This is a huge bet for us.”