China's Anta Sports Acquires German Brand Jack Wolfskin
The German outdoor clothing manufacturer Jack Wolfskin, headquartered in Hong Kong's sports goods group Anta Sports, plans to sell the company, which is based in Idstein, Hesse, Germany, for $290 million.
After 2018, Jack Wolfskin has been under the American golf brand Topgolf Callaway Brands. Callaway acquired the German company for approximately 418 million euros at that time. On Thursday, Callaway stated that selling Jack Wolfskin was aimed at focusing on its core business.
Jack Wolfskin is expected to reach a turnover of around 325 million euros this year, with an operating profit of 12 million euros. Traditionally, this outdoor brand, which uses a bear paw as its logo, generates two-thirds of its sales in the second half of the year. Jack Wolfskin currently employs approximately 1,500 people.
Anta Sports stated that it hopes to expand its outdoor product business through this acquisition, "integrating Jack Wolfskin is another important step in our global expansion strategy." Anta Sports stated that this merger and acquisition will bring synergies to the company's supply chain, product development, and retail sectors. The international reputation of the Chinese enterprise "Anta Sports" mainly comes from its Finnish subsidiary Amer Sports, which is already listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2019, Anta participated in the acquisition of Amer Sports through a consortium.
Amer Sports owns several well-known brands such as Atomic, Salomon, Wilson, as well as the outdoor brands Peak Performance and Arcteryx.
Jack Wolfskin's corporate development has been full of twists and turns. This German outdoor clothing company, founded in the 1980s, was acquired by the financial investment company Blackstone Group for 700 million euros in 2011. However, with the failure of its overseas expansion plan, Blackstone eventually had to transfer Jack Wolfskin to several hedge funds. In 2019, these hedge funds sold the company to Callaway.
Source: DW compiled reports from Reuters
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1829278620205065/
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