El Corte Inglés to Buy Shares From Former President and His Mother

El Corte Inglés to Buy Shares From Former President and His Mother.

The board of directors of El Corte Inglés have begun negotiations to buy the shares held by the former president of the group Dimas Gimeno and his mother, María Antonia Álvarez, for €145 million.

If the move is to materialise then this would mean the mother and son would relinquish their control and put an end to the power struggle that began in 2018 when Gimeno was dismissed as president by Jesús Nuño de la Rosa, a position he left to Marta Álvarez one year later.

Dimas Gimeno and his mother still have 5 per cent of El Corte Inglés, since they hold 13 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively, of the IASA equity company, which has more than 22 per cent of the distribution group.

The sale price, €145 million, according to El Corte Inglés, has been proposed by Gimeno himself. A price that, according to company sources, has seemed attractive and reasonable to the board of directors, which does not need any authorisation from the bank to carry out the operation. In addition, it is expected to be executed within a month.

El Corte Inglés will be able to carry out the operation because none of the other shareholders of IASA – the daughters of Isidoro Álvarez, Marta and Cristina, who have almost 70 per cent and his brother, César Álvarez, who has 9 per cent – has made use of its pre-emptive subscription rights for these shares. According to company sources, the daughters of the late Isidoro Álvarez have understood that it is a beneficial operation for El Corte Inglés. According to the same sources, it is not ruled out that this indirect package will become shares of El Corte Inglés in the future.

Furthermore, as reported by the distribution group, the board of directors authorises this operation “provided that the acquisition of these shares is made free of the charges and encumbrances that currently weigh on them.” It should be remembered that Dimas Gimeno and his mother have to pay a payment to the Tax Agency of about €100 million in the coming months as inheritance tax.

This announcement comes two weeks after Dimas Gimeno sold his direct shares of El Corte Inglés for €2.5 million and also abandoned the legal battle he started when he was dismissed in 2018. On that occasion, the purchase of those shares was carried out by El Corte Inglés within the employee share buyback plan.

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