3Sixty Duty Free & Hotel Shilla close deal; The Shilla Duty Free parent becomes 44% shareholder

USA/SOUTH KOREA. In big breaking news, 3Sixty Duty Free & More Holdings and Hotel Shilla Co (parent company of The Shilla Duty Free) have today closed the transaction entered into by the two parties on 25 October, 2019.

In a short statement the parties said: “As a result of today’s closing, Shilla has become a 44% shareholder of 3Sixty and will contribute to create a ‘new’ powerful operator in the Americas region and beyond, ready to compete for all future opportunities in the airport and omnichannel businesses.”

Neither party offered any further comment at this point but we will bring you the views of each in due course.

Comment: Given the current industry turmoil, it is not surprising that the two parties have confined themselves to a brief statement, writes Martin Moodie. But there is no doubting the significance of this deal, especially given a travel retail landscape that is likely to be radically transformed by the COVID-19 crisis. And given the commercial carnage currently being wreaked around the world, the deal represents a timely and important statement of confidence in the future of the travel retail channel.

It is worth recalling the words of Shilla Travel Retail’s canny President Ingyu Han back in October: “With the partnership with 3Sixty we aim to develop the business in the Americas region (more and more influenced by Asian travellers) and to leverage each other’s competencies in the digital business to continue to lead the omnichannel disruption of travel retail.”

And those of 3Sixty Founder & Chairman Benny Klepach: “We have always considered Shilla a potential strong partner to help us achieve our strategic objectives and continuing to lead the digital disruption in our industry. With Shilla in our shareholding structure we can compete successfully for every airport opportunity in the Americas.

“We will leverage Shilla’s competences in airport and digital retail and its merchandise strengths across categories. On the other hand, we will offer Shilla our knowledge of the specific regional environment, our recent developments in the digital business, our unique business model and strong relationships in the liquor category.”

Those statements still hold water. Perhaps more so than ever. For a newly capitalised 3Sixty is now in prime position to expand regionally (and digitally) at the expense of potentially badly wounded rivals.

The deal brings together the world’s number three and number 20 travel retailers by size according to The Moodie Davitt Report Top 25 Travel Retailers league based on 2018 results
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