Paris: Yoox Net-a-Porter agreed to sell a stake to the founder of Dubai-based developer Emaar Properties PJSC to help the world’s largest online luxury retailer expand in the Middle East.
Alabbar Enterprises, controlled by Emaar Chairman Mohammad Al Abbar, agreed to pay €100 million ($113 million; Dh415 million) for new shares amounting to 4 per cent of YNAP, the Milan-based retailer said in a statement Tuesday. The shares rose.
The transaction brings together the online retailing partner for more than 30 luxury brands and the operator of the world’s largest shopping mall in Dubai, with 80 million visitors last year. As a strategic investor, Alabbar can provide insights and support to YNAP in the Middle East, which represents 5 per cent of global luxury spending, the Italian company said.
“We also believe that such an agreement with a key wholesaler should also help YNAP strengthen its relationships with luxury brands,” said Mauro Baragiola, an analyst at Citigroup in Milan. “We increasingly find it difficult to see why bearish investors on YNAP should remain such.”
The shares rose 6.3 per cent to €28.15 at 9.24am in Milan.
YNAP will use the funds from to invest in technology and “high-potential geographies,” while retaining maximum balance-sheet flexibility, it said.
YNAP had planned to sell as much as €200 million of stock following the merger that created the company last year. Cash requirements are lower than previously estimated and the board does not plan to raise the remaining €100 million, YNAP said in the statement.
