{"id":432521,"date":"2026-01-27T10:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T10:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/432521\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T10:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T10:02:15","slug":"anta-sports-scoops-up-29-puma-stake-in-1-8-billion-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/432521\/","title":{"rendered":"Anta Sports Scoops Up 29% Puma Stake in $1.8 Billion Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAnta<\/a> Sports Products Limited confirmed early Tuesday in China that it inked an agreement with Groupe Art\u00e9mis, the investment company of the Pinault family, to acquire a 29.06 percent stake in Puma<\/a> SE in a deal worth 1.5 billion euros, or about $1.8 billion. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026. The equity acquisition will be entirely financed with Anta<\/a> Sports\u2019 internal cash resources, the company said.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnta added that it \u201cfully appreciates\u201d Puma<\/a>\u2019s management culture and independent governance as a German-listed company and intends to seek \u201cadequate representation\u201d on Puma\u2019s supervisory board. These representatives will work closely with the other supervisory board members from both the shareholders\u2019 and employee representatives\u2019 side, while preserving Puma\u2019s strong brand identity and heritage, the company noted.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnta further stated that it currently has no plans to make a takeover offer for Puma but will \u201ccarefully assess\u201d the possibility of further deepening the partnership between the two parties in the future.<\/p>\n

\n\tFN has reached out to Puma for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tDing Shizhong, board chairman of Anta Sports<\/a>, said in a statement that this acquisition makes Anta Sports the largest shareholder of Puma and marks a major step forward in our \u2018single-focus, multi-brand, globalization\u2019 strategy.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWorking with Puma, we look forward to learning from each other and joining hands to fully unlock the brand\u2019s full potential,\u201d Shizhong said. \u201cThis will further accelerate Anta Sports\u2019 globalization, and help drive the next chapter of growth for the global sports markets including China \u2013 creating lasting value for both companies\u2019 consumers and shareholders worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe chairman added that Anta believes Puma\u2019s share price over the past few months \u201cdoes not fully reflect the long-term potential of the brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have confidence in its management team and strategic transformation,\u201d Shizhong added. \u201cMoving forward, we hope to build strong trust, work together at arm\u2019s length, and leverage our complementary strengths without comprising independence. We look forward to supporting the brand\u2019s ongoing revival.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnta was established in 1991 and was officially listed on the main board of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited in 2007. Anta Sports\u2019 portfolio of brands includes Anta, Fila, Descente, Kolon Sport, Maia Active and Jack Wolfskin. The company is also the largest shareholder of Amer Sports, the parent company of Arc\u2019teryx, Salomon, Wilson, Peak Performance, and Atomic.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor months, sale speculation has been swirling around the brand.<\/p>\n

\n\tShares of Puma SE ticked up in September over buzz that its rival\u00a0Adidas might be interested<\/a>\u00a0in acquiring the brand. Two days later, shares of Puma rose again over speculation that brand management firm\u00a0Authentic Brands Group<\/a>\u00a0and private equity firm CVC would be throwing their hats into the ring.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn November, Puma shares popped up again, this time on rumblings that China\u2019s sportswear firm Anta Sports could be eyeing the German athletic brand. In addition to media outlets citing Anta, Li Ning and Asics were also mentioned as possible bidders. Both Li Ning and Asics reportedly denied that any talks or even evaluations of potential interest were taking place.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe news comes as Puma faces a\u00a0tough road ahead<\/a>\u00a0to turn around its business. In October, Puma logged a third-quarter sales drop of 10.4 percent as its new chief executive officer Arthur Hoeld also outlined his plans for the strategic reset.<\/p>\n

\n\tOrganic sales at Puma fell 10.4 percent in the third quarter to 1.96 billion euros. Earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT, also collapsed, with both adjusted and reported EBIT falling by more than 80 percent.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe German activewear firm cited a strategic \u201creset\u201d as it navigates \u201cseveral company-specific challenges, including muted brand momentum, elevated inventory levels across the trade and low quality of distribution.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anta Sports Products Limited confirmed early Tuesday in China that it inked an agreement with Groupe Art\u00e9mis, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7761,204996,28,194097],"class_list":["post-432521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-acquisitions","tag-anta","tag-business","tag-puma"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}