The Valencian chain Druni, owned by the Casp family, and the Portuguese distribution group MC Sonae have signed a strategic alliance to merge Druni and the Arenal chain, which will result in a new giant in the retail sale of perfumery and cosmetics products . This new group will have at its disposal around 500 physical stores in Spain and a turnover of approximately 800 million euros.
For the closing agreement, MC Sonae will contribute its current participation in Arenal, which is 60%, in addition to “an important additional investment”, with which it will create a joint venture together with the founding shareholders of Druni. Although the closing of the transaction is subject to the approvals of the competent authorities, both parties expect it to materialize in the second half of the year.
Complementarity of efforts and teams
After the operation, Druni will lead the new group, so the Casp family will own 50%. The other 50% will be controlled by MC Sonae through a holding company, in which the founding shareholders of Arenal will have a minority stake.
The combination of Druni and Arenal comes to accelerate the growth plan of both companies, both in the physical channel and online, thanks to the complementarity of the store network and a management team with extensive experience in the sector. In this sense, Bernardo Casp will occupy the position of CEO of the group, while Rafael Márzan Vázquez, who is CEO of Arenal, will also hold a management position in the new group. The corporate headquarters will remain in Carlet (Valencia), where Druni currently has its headquarters.
The networks that both companies have built are complementary, because while Druni has most of its points of sale in the Mediterranean area and Madrid; Arenal maintains operations in the north of the Peninsula.
The managers of MC Sonae and Druni have agreed that “this operation translates into the creation of a benchmark operator in the Iberian Peninsula, in a segment with high growth potential. By joining forces, new opportunities open up and we ensure an even brighter future for Wells, Druni and Arenal.”
The groups involved in the operation
MC Sonae owns the Continente hypermarket chain, which has placed it among the leaders in the food sector in Portugal. In addition, it has an important portfolio in the health, beauty and well-being sector thanks to Wells, a parapharmacy, beauty and optics retail company, with 300 stores in Portugal, and Arenal, buying 60% of the shares in 2018. In total , the group’s turnover was 6,000 million euros in 2022.
For its part, Arenal, is a perfumery, cosmetics and parapharmacy retail company born in Lugo in 1976, which today has around 70 physical stores, located mainly in the north of Spain. Since 2018, the founding partners have operated 40% of the company, while 60% belongs to MC Sonae. Thanks to its physical network of stores and its powerful online channel, the company managed to invoice 192 million euros last year.
Arenal plans to continue with its expansion plan and is already opening two new stores, one in Castro Urdiales (fifth store in Cantabria), and another in the province of Badajoz. Likewise, for the second half of the year, 4 more openings are planned (Ribeira, Pontevedra, San Sebastián and another to be specified).
Lastly, Druni, which has also specialized in the perfumery, cosmetics and parapharmacy sector, was founded by the Casp family in 1987 and currently has a network of 400 stores in Spain (mostly distributed in Valencia, Catalonia and Madrid ). Its online channel managed to position itself in 2020 as one of the main online perfume stores in Spain. Its turnover in 2022 amounted to 575 million euros.
Photo: Depositphotos
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