PARIS – Maurizio Borletti is back on the retail scene, but this time, he is targeting travelers.
The Italian entrepreneur’s Borletti Group is part of a consortium that on Wednesday completed the acquisition of Grandi Stazioni Retail (GSR) from Italian state railway company Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS) and private investment vehicle Eurostazioni.
Together with French private equity firm Antin Infrastructure Partners and real estate fund manager Icamap, Borletti placed a winning bid of 953 million euros, or $1.08 billion at current exchange, including net financial position, FS Group said. Antin is the largest partner in the consortium.
The group beat out Lone Star, Deutsche Asset Management, and a rival consortium made up of Altarea, ABP and Predica. The GSR concession, valid until 2040, provides exclusive rights to the commercial leasing and advertising spaces of the 14 largest railway stations in Italy, in addition to two in the Czech Republic.
The board of directors has appointed Borletti as chairman of GSR, the consortium said in a statement on Wednesday.
“I believe that travel retail has a good future,” Borletti told WWD. An estimated 790 million visitors use these key Italian railway stations every year.
He noted that while rail users typically transit through stations faster than plane passengers
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