Brazil's Magazine Luiza agrees to buy retailer Netshoes for $62 million

Brazilian retailer Magazine Luiza SA said in a filing on Monday it agreed to buy online shoe retailer Netshoes Ltd for approximately $62 million.

Magazine Luiza offered to pay $2 a share. Rival Brazilian retailer B2W had said earlier in April it was considering the acquisition of Netshoes.

Netshoes stocks ended 3.9 percent down on Monday at $2.65. Shares have fallen by 85.3 percent since its initial public offering two years ago, as the company has struggled to turn a profit.

Last August, Reuters reported that Netshoes had hired Goldman Sachs to seek an investor to inject cash in the company and restructure its debt.

Shareholders will be paid in cash, Magazine Luiza said. The acquisition is aligned to the retailer’s efforts to increase its footprint in the increasingly competitive Brazilian e-commerce, as Amazon.com Inc revs up operations in Latin America’s largest economy seven years after entering the market.

“Magazine Luiza could use the Netshoes opportunity to start selling clothes and shoes to compete with Amazon.com in Brazil,” analysts at Banco Brasil Plural said in a note to clients earlier in April, when the retailer mentioned its interest in Netshoes.

Netshoes also announced on Monday the sale of its subsidiary in Argentina to BT8 for an undisclosed amount.