AO World announces another delay to Mobile Phones Direct acquisition
AO World
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16:44 18/04/24
AO World updated the market on its acquisition of Mobile Phones Direct on Friday, with a further delay to the transaction’s expected completion date.
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The London-listed online retailer said it now expected that completion of the acquisition would occur, and admission of the new ordinary shares would become effective, during the week starting 17 December.
Its last update, on 13 December, had anticipated completion occuring on Friday.
Prior to that, on 7 December, AO World said it was expecting completion to finalise “within two weeks” of that announcement.
The acquisition was first announced on 9 November, with AO World buying Mobile Phones Direct for a cash-free, debt-free enterprise value of £32.5m.
“This deal represents a significant step forward in our strategy of developing our growing range of online electricals and adding new complementary categories that customers want and expect from AO,” said chief executive officer Steve Caunce at the time of the initial announcement.
“Mobile Phones Direct already has a leading position within the UK online mobile phone market and is a business which is highly complementary to AO.
“In coming together, AO will achieve instant scale and be well-placed for future opportunities within a highly attractive and growing UK mobile phone market.”