Elior Group has completed the sale of its subsidiary, Areas (which constitutes the Group's concession catering activities), to PAI Partners for a net total amount of c. €1.4 billion - corresponding to an enterprise value of €1.542 billion - out of which €70 million correspond to an interest-bearing vendor loan. 

The company, founded in Barcelona in 1968, is present in Europe, the United States and Latin America with 2,100 restaurants and shops in 91 airports, 84 railway stations and 227 service areas and manages 340 million customers every year. In Italy, Areas controls MyChef, one of the most important travel retail players (after Autogrill and Cremonini's Chef Express) and present in 12 airports with over 130 signs, over 20 service areas on motorways, sales points in railway stations and exhibitions. In total, 170 sales points, 2000 employees and a turnover of 180 million euros.

Commenting on the transaction, Philippe Guillemot, Elior Group’s  Chief Executive Officer, said: "The sale of Areas  opens  up  a  new  chapter  in  our  history:  that  of  a  New  Elior,  focused  on  our  core business of  contract  catering and services. This pure play positioning will enable us to step up the pace of our transformation so as to meet the new challenges facing the contract catering and services sectors. We intend to prioritize culinary innovation and more environmentally-friendly catering, while maintaining our key focus on the quality of our products, the deep expertise of our teams and our customer-centric approach.  We  now have  more  resources  to  support  our  expansion in  Europe  (France,  Italy,  Spain  and  the  United  Kingdom), as well as in the United States and India. Our main objectives are to get  organic  growth  back on track by 2020 and improve our profitability as from the second half of this fiscal year.” 

The deal closed following clearance from the relevant anti-trust authorities and the completion of the requisite information and consultation procedures with the Group's employee representative bodies. The consolidated capital gain on the sale amounts to c. €200 million without any tax impact.