The French Ceconomy holding Fnac Darty is joining forces with its major shareholder Daniel Kretinsky to acquire the Italian electronics retail chain Unieuro.

Fnac Darty, together with Ruby Equity Investment, in which Kretinsky's company Vesa Equity holds a 49 percent stake, submitted a takeover bid for Unieuro. The offer values Unieuro at just under 250 million euros. Fnac Darty already holds 4.4 percent of Unieuro's shares. Unieuro announced on Wednesday that it would examine the offer.

In the event of a takeover, a company with a turnover of more than 20 billion euros would be created, which would be the market leader in parts of Europe, explained Fnac Darty. Unieuro now has a few weeks to examine the offer, said Fnac Darty boss Enrique Martinez.

The takeover bid could also shake up the industry in Europe. Through his Vesa Equity, Kretinsky is the largest shareholder in Fnac Darty with 29.9 percent. Ceconomy holds 23.4 percent of the French company. Kretinsky also controls numerous stakes in retail groups, such as the French Casino and the German Metro.

(Report by Matthias Inverardi and Olivier Sorgho, edited by Ralf Banser. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).