WBA’s move marks the conclusion of a review that commenced in January and saw the British retailer valued at £5 billion.
WBA said that the sale of Boots attracted significant interest, though global markets have suffered substantially since it launched the sale. Bidders including billionaire businessmen Mohsin Issa and Zuber Issa are understood to have missed out on acquiring Boots, which is the largest pharmacy in the UK.
“As a result of market instability severely impacting financing availability, no third party has been able to make an offer that adequately reflects the high potential value of Boots and No7 Beauty Company,” WBA said.
Rosalind Brewer, CEO of WBA, said: “We have now completed a thorough review of Boots and No7 Beauty Company, with the outcome reflecting rapidly evolving and challenging financial market conditions beyond our control. It is an exciting time for these businesses, which are uniquely positioned to continue to capture future opportunities presented by the growing healthcare and beauty markets.
“The board and I remain confident that Boots and No7 Beauty Company hold strong fundamental value, and longer-term, we will stay open to all opportunities to maximise shareholder value for these businesses and across our company.”
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Based in Ladenburg/Baden-Württemberg, BK Giulini specialises in producing and selling additives such as food additives and more. Part of the ICL Phosphate Solutions division, ICL Ludwigshafen Fertilizers produces fertilizers for the ICL Phosphate Commodities division. Both companies owned properties at Ludwigshafen site with a total land area of over 100,000 square meters.
Founded in Trier in 1972, TRIWO AG is a real estate company which works on asset management, property development, construction and project management, commercial property management and technical property management.
"We are pleased that we were able to bring this complex real estate transaction to a successful conclusion for our clients and that we have found such a competent partner for the Ludwigshafen site in TRIWO", commented Kirsten Girnth.
BK Giulini GmbH and ICL Fertilizers Germany GmbH were advised by Ritterhaus Lawyers, with Dr Kirsten Girnth, (lead, M&A, Corporate), Dr Eva Schwittek, (Real Estate Law), Dr Ing. Jörg Döhrer (Labor Law), Sebastian Koch, LL.M. (M&A, Corporate) (all Frankfurt) and Dr Christoph Rung, (Public Law, Mannheim).
TRIWO was advised by König Rechtsanwälte, with Gerrit Strotmann leading the transaction.
Peter Kühn from Doerr Kühn Plück + Partner (Wiesbaden) acted as a notary.
Cashless payments and the plight of cash in society has been something of a subject over the past few years, but a conversation many aren’t having is that of financial exclusion; something that has happened in the past is likely set to happen again. Below Jack Ehlers, Director of Payments Partnerships at PPRO Group, delves into the details.
In 2016, according to a report just published by the European Central Bank (ECB), EU citizens made €123 billion worth of what the ECB calls ‘peer-to-peer’ cash payments. That’s just another way of describing the money grandparents tuck inside birthday cards, donations to charity, payments to street vendors and the hundreds of other small cash transactions people make all the time.
But even as cash remains central to the economy, cashless payment methods become more common with each year. The use of e-wallets such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay is predicted to double to more than 16 million users by 2020. Overwhelmingly, the rise of the cashless society is a good thing. It promises greater convenience, lower risk, and improvements in the state’s ability to clamp down on practices such as tax avoidance and money laundering.
But what about those micro-payments? And even more importantly, what happens to the estimated 40 million Europeans who are outside the banking mainstream? These are the EU’s most vulnerable citizens and they have little or no access to digital payment methods.
If we don’t plan properly, the transition to a largely cashless future could see the re-emergence of financial exclusion, which we thought had been vanquished. In Western societies. Ajay Banga, CEO of Mastercard, has talked of the danger that in the future we’ll see “islands” of the unbanked develop, in which those shut out of the now almost entirely digitised economy are left able to trade only with each other.
But are we really going cashless any time soon?
The ECB report quoted above, also found that cash is still used in almost 79% of transactions. So, do we really need to worry about what will happen when we finally ditch notes for digital payments? Yes and no.
Even though contact payments are on the rise, the demand for cash is also growing. A recent study found that the value of euro banknotes in circulation has increased by 4.9% over the last five years. Given the historically low rate of inflation over the past few years, this would seem to be largely due to a cultural preference for cash. Low interest rates could also be encouraging Europeans to spend rather than save. But whatever the reason, cash isn’t going away soon.
But that doesn’t mean we can relax. Some markets are already much closer to going cashless than the European average would suggest. In Sweden, consumers already pay for 80% of transactions using something other than cash. In the Netherlands, that figure is 55%, in Finland 46% and in Belgium 37% [1]. Today, Britons use digital payments in 60% of all transactions. By 2027, that number is expected to rise to 79%. Already, 33% of UK citizens rarely, if ever, use cash.
Unless we take this challenge seriously, we risk stumbling into a situation in which the majority in these countries use cash-free payments most of the time, even if they still use cash in minor transactions. In such cases, there is the danger of many shops and services no longer accepting cash, leaving those who still rely on it stuck in the economic slow lane.
For most people, cashless payments can offer easier and faster payments, greater security, and improved access to a wider range of goods and services. But to maximise the benefits and reduce the downside, including those for strong personal privacy, we need to start thinking now about how we can manage the transition in a way that minimises the risk of financial exclusion for already marginal groups in society.
Charities and mobile payments show the way
The rise of digital payments does not have to mean the growth of financial exclusion. It is possible to create an affordable payments-infrastructure for small traders, churches, and charity shops — and, even more importantly, for economically marginal consumers.
In the UK, charities are leading the way. After noticing that donations were tailing off, the NSPCC and Oxfam sent out one hundred volunteers with contactless point-of-sale devices, instead of charity collection tins. The rate of donations trebled. The success of the NSPCC trial shows that it is possible to roll out the supporting infrastructure for cashless payments even to individual charity collectors on the street.
But that’s only half the story. While charities and shops — even small independent retailers — may be able to afford and install point-of-sale systems to accept micro-payments, normal citizens cannot. Here, mobile payments may be the answer.
The example of the Kenyan M-Pesa, a system which allows payments to be made via SMS, shows that it is possible to create an accessible, widely available and used mobile payment system that does not rely on the consumer owning an expensive, latest-model smartphone. Already, 17.6 million Kenyans use M-Pesa to make payments of anything from $1 to almost $500 in a single transaction.
An inclusive cashless future—in which mobile e-wallets and other contactless forms of payment dominate—is possible. But it won’t happen by itself. As an industry and a society, we need to plan and work towards it: starting today. The stakes for many businesses and some of the most vulnerable people in our society couldn’t be higher.
Sources:
The use of cash by households in the euro area, Henk Esselink, November 2017, Lola Hernández, European Central Bank
FinTech: mobile wallet POS payment users in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2014 to 2020, by age group, Statista.com.
Close to 40 million EU citizens outside banking mainstream, 5 April 2016, World Savings and Retail Banking Institute
Insights into the future of cash, Speech given by Victoria Cleland, Chief Cashier and Director of Notes, Bank of England, 13 June 2017.
Why Europe still needs cash, 28 April 2017, Yves Mersch, European Central Bank.
Europe’s disappearing cash: Emptying the tills, 11 August 2016, The Economist
UK Payment Markets 2017, Payments UK.
The Global State of Financial Inclusion, 5 March 2015, Pymnts.com
A new report from VentureFounders, in conjunction with Beauhurst, has found that 56% of UK tech founders expect that their business will sell for £50m or less, but 80% want to re-enter the tech ecosystem and support it post-exit.
Other key findings:
- Most UK tech founders are intending to exit within 2-5 years, despite recognising the risks of exiting too early.
- If founders think they will sell for more than £50m, it would be to an overseas buyer.
- The longer a company has been generating revenue, the lower the valuation they expected on exit.
Quoted respondents include James Meekings of Funding Circle, Justin FitzPatrick of DueDil and SwiftKey's Jon Reynolds.
No ambition gap
James Codling, CEO and co-founder of VentureFounders, believes that, despite the £50m figure, there is no ambition gap among UK tech founders:
"Our report highlights the challenges faced by scale-up entrepreneurs and how critical it is for the UK to continue to nurture the scale-up ecosystem. While UK founders do expect to exit earlier, 80% of them want to go back in to the ecosystem and support it, after they've exited their own business. We hope the government's Patient Capital Review will address some of the key findings from this report.
"We are also commissioning a further piece of work to look at the cost to scale a business in the UK and the funding gap that businesses experience. On the back of this, we expect to make a number of policy recommendations."
Toby Austin, CEO at Beauhurst, commented: “At Beauhurst, we have observed what I suspect are the beginnings of a shift in the funding landscape. Late-stage companies have been able to find the support and capital they need in the UK recently, although much of the money has come from foreign investors. The findings of the report support my belief that the UK is brimming with exciting, ambitious businesses and the ecosystem simply needs to catch up — hopefully it has already started to do so.”
(Source: VentureFounders)
What’s stopping you from investing in property, or more property? Is it a lack of finance? If so, you’re probably looking at things the wrong way. Here Mark Homer, Co-founder at Progressive Property, fires out 5 quick tips for your joint venture pitch.
It’s no secret that joint ventures (JVs) are the key ingredient for building a healthy property portfolio. What is more of a mystery, however, is how you actually secure JV partners.
While the property experts are all shouting about the importance of JV deals, you’re left wondering how to make yours a reality.
Never fear, it’s all about the pitch, and we’ve got five top tips for nailing yours right here.
- It’s likely you only have a brief opportunity the first time you meet, at a networking event for example, to capture their imagination and grab their attention. Make sure you do so with something unique and compelling. Bear in mind, too, that investors invest in people, so you are an essential part of the deal. Be likeable.
- Private investors are pitched to every day. Clarity is always better than persuasion, so make them aware of the need to do business with you. Identify their pain point and actively promote a remedy. Speak in their language and focus on being understood.
- Offer them a unique solution. A profit share in the cashflow and equity. Differentiate yourself by your unique value – what can you offer that no one else can? (Investors aren’t keen on ‘me too’ ideas).
- Every investor is sold on perceived capability. You can build this by displaying positive examples of your determination and ability to get the ‘job done’.
- If a potential JV partner is interested, offer to buy them lunch so you can talk more about your property investment proposal. With any luck, this will be the start of an everlasting and successful JV relationship.
Bonus tip
Don’t be afraid to show your passion and enthusiasm – it could be the difference that makes the difference and gets you another conversation.
