Deal Announcement 02/23: Retail & Consumer

The Deal

The PwC M&A team is pleased to announce the successful sale of Marché International AG, Pfäffikon (“Marché”) to Lagardère Travel Retail SAS, Paris (“Lagardère”). 

Marché is a well-established international food services provider which operates restaurants in travel and leisure locations including airports, railway and motorway stations, zoos and downtown malls. The company’s portfolio of brands and concepts includes the well-known “Marché” brand, Palavrion, Cindy’s diner and the White Monkey, and covers the full range of customer needs and budgets.

On 15 November 2022 Lagardère signed the purchase agreement to acquire Marché. Lagardère Group will continue to run Marché’s approximately 150 gastronomic locations in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, and Singapore.

Lagardère Travel Retail CEO Mr Dag Rasmusen explained the rationale behind the transaction: “We are very happy to be integrating Marché’s network of innovative and creative concepts to further consolidate our global Food & Beverage expertise in Europe and Asia. Our two companies share a commitment to deliver world-class dining experiences to travellers, with a focus on the highest possible standards of quality and customer service. Drinking and dining is an essential part of the traveller’s journey which is why we have steadily invested into our foodservice growth and expertise over the past few years.The integration of Marché into the globally active Lagardère Group opens additional entrepreneurial perspectives for Marché. The guests, partners, and employees of Marché will also benefit from this transaction.”

PwC has been mandated as exclusive M&A advisor by the shareholders of Marché. Besides a detailed information memorandum PwC also analysed the restaurant portfolio with a Power BI-driven dynamic dashboard. This highly sophisticated tool enabled investors get deep insights on every restaurant and location. Marché attracted significant interest both from strategic as well as financial investors from all over the world. At the end of the highly competitive process, Lagardère Travel Retail convinced the seller with the most attractive offer and strategic concept. 

The deal was signed in November 2022 and closed on 1st February 2023.

Marché International AG 

Marché, headquartered in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, is a multinational food service provider serving fresh and healthy food via a unique front cooking market concept in transit or high frequency customer hubs. The group reports annual revenues of approx. € 133 million with 52 restaurant locations in Europe and Singapore. The Marché brand stands for Mediterranean fresh market cuisine serving homemade dishes prepared in front of the customer from seasonal and local ingredients.

Lagardère Travel Retail SAS

One of the two divisions of the Lagardère group, Lagardère Travel Retail is a global leader in the travel retail industry. Operating over 4,800 stores across Travel Essentials, Duty Free & Fashion and Foodservice in airports, railway stations and other concessions in 42 countries and territories, Lagardère Travel Retail generated €2.9 bn in sales in 2021 and €5.5bn in 2019 (managed 100%).

Lagardère Travel Retail has a unique holistic approach aimed at exceeding travelers’ expectations throughout their journey and optimizing landlords’ assets and partners’ brands.

PwC

The global PricewaterhouseCoopers network is a worldwide association of independent auditing and consulting companies which together employ almost 328,000 employees in 152 countries. Our global network comprises over 1,600 M&A professionals all over the world, realising approx. 400 successful transactions per year. Our M&A team has a very successful track record in the German mid-market. In the consumer / gastro segment we recently also advised on the successful sale of Vapiano.

The transaction was led by Timo Klees (Partner) and Alexander von Friesen (Partner). The team comprised of Philippe Mullenbach (Senior Manager), Julia Jaumann (Manager) and Felix Rinaldi (Senior Associate).