Second-hand marketplace operator Vinted UAB is reaching out to German competitor Rebelle. The company, based in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, submitted a corresponding takeover bid on Monday. Accordingly, Vinted is offering the current shareholders of the listed umbrella company Rebelle AB 14.10 Swedish crowns – the equivalent of around 1.35 euros – per share. This corresponds to a premium of 8.46 percent compared to the closing price of last Friday, the last trading day before the takeover bid was submitted.
With almost 22.4 million Rebelle shares outstanding, the total volume of the offer is around 315 million Swedish kronor (30 million euros). The offer period begins today, Tuesday, and runs until August 19. Vinted is already certain of a majority: in advance, numerous important Rebelle shareholders, who together hold 64.7 percent of the shares, had already made “irrevocable commitments” to accept the offer. These include the major investors HCS Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Friheden Invest A/S and Deutsche Balaton AG, but also Max Schönemann, the CEO of Rebelle. In addition to the obligatory approval of the responsible competition authorities, the prerequisite for the completion of the takeover is that Vinted can acquire at least ninety percent of the shares.
Vinted CEO Plantenga wants to combine the qualities of both companies
Thomas Plantenga, CEO of Vinted, justified the acquisition: “As a company active in the same industry, we have been following Rebelle for many years and are impressed by their offer and what they have achieved in the luxury segment,” he said in a statement. “By combining Rebelle’s expertise in this segment with Vinted’s geographic reach and large membership base, we see great potential to offer consumers a higher-quality offering and ultimately promote the acceptance of second-hand.” At the same time, he thanked them for the “great support” the offer received from the specially formed bid committee and Rebelle’s main shareholders.
Upon a successful completion of the acquisition, Vinted plans to combine both companies into a unified organization that will “benefit from shared expertise, processes, technologies and operational competencies”. Significant changes in management, locations and employees at Rebelle are not planned at the present time, according to a statement. Corresponding decisions would only be examined after the completion of the takeover.
Since 2008, Vinted has developed into one of the leading second-hand marketplaces in Europe
Founded in 2008, Vinted operates a C2C second-hand marketplace that, according to the company, is currently present in 16 European countries and North America and has more than 65 million users. In recent years, the company has managed to raise hundreds of millions of euros in several financing rounds in order to advance its growth plans.
The takeover candidate Rebelle was founded in Hamburg in 2013 by the current CEO Schönemann and Cécile Wickmann. Rebelle AB, the parent company of the operating company Styleremains GmbH, completed its IPO in Stockholm last year.