Last Friday, finally the retail company Ripley terminated its participation in the Mallplaza chain of shopping centers in Chile. By selling 22.5% of its shares, it leaves the Falabella Group as sole owner of the malls.
Last August, Ripley reported that it would exercise its right to sell the stake in Nuevos Desarrollos SA, the company it shares with Plaza Oeste (a Falabella subsidiary) and which controls eight shopping centers in the country. Ripley Inversiones II owned 22.5% of this company, while Plaza Oeste had the remaining 77.5%.
This Friday March 31 the transaction was sealed for more than 4.6 million UF (Chilean Development Unit), equivalent to regarding 207 million dollars. Said amount was determined by the average of the value that two different banks gave to the company, Credicorp and Scotiabank, as we had previously reported in Peru Retail.
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The news was revealed in a essential fact delivered to the Commission for the Financial Market (CMF), signed by the general manager of RipleyCorp himself, Lázaro Calderón. “This price will be paid within 30 calendar days following this date, in compliance with the sale option contemplated in the shareholders’ agreement of Nuevos Desarrollos SA”wrote the executive.
Ripley, a company linked to the Calderón family, had begun the process of selling this stake in 2020. On that date, it justified the decision by pointing out that it was a passive minority percentage without interference in the administration. Nuevos Desarrollos, directly or indirectly, owns the Mallplaza Arica, Iquique, Copiapó, Los Dominicos, Egaña, Alameda, Sur and Bío-Bío, all in Chile.
It is worth mentioning that the Mallplaza chain is also found in Peru and Colombia, where they are fully operated by Falabella.
How did the Ripley and Falabella alliance come regarding?
The alliance between both Chilean retailers, which compete in department stores and last-mile logistics, began in 2009. In January of that year, Ripley exercised an option to buy that 22.5% of Nuevos Desarrollos and thus ally with the Plaza group.
As we have mentioned, Nuevos Desarrollos had two partners and operated eight shopping centers. It is controlled by Mallplaza, the arm of the malls that Falabella controls through Plaza Oeste with 77.5%, and Ripley, which had 22.5%.
