French mobile and broadband operator Bouygues Telecom has reached an agreement to acquire Dartybox, the telecom business of home electrical and electronic products retailer Darty, for EUR 40 million, according to Darty parent company and UK-based retail group Kesa. Darty started selling internet, phone and TV services in France under the Dartybox brand in 2006, and added MVNO service Darty Mobile in 2011. It now has 300,000 broadband customers, one-third on fibre-coax and two-thirds on ADSL, and 40,000 mobile customers. The company made a EUR 200,000 retail profit on EUR 131.5 million of revenues in its last financial year to 30 April 2011. It had EUR 78 million in gross assets and EUR 43 million in net assets. Darty will sell Bouygues Telecom's products and services at its 226 stores across France and will provide all customer service support for Bouygues Telecom Bbox (triple-play) and Ideo (quad-play) packages sold in its stores. Bouygues said that its new home gateway, Bbox Sensation, set to be launched in a few weeks will be a big factor in attracting new subscribers, notably in the context of its agreement with Darty. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval.
