News briefs - Corporate and M&A – Page 53
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News briefs
Two French retailers are merging
Frasteya and Lafreto have announced their merger, with immediate effect. The new joint company resulting from the merger of these two French physical players specializing in outdoor and boardsports is called 113Outdoor. As reported by sport-guide.com, Frasteya will be the majority shareholder while Lafreto will hold a minority stake in ...
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361° sees its credit rating downgraded
Standard & Poor’s has downgraded the credit rating of 361 Degrees International, predicting that its position in the Chinese market will weaken due to an accelerated consolidation of the industry, leading its sales to decline by 5 to 10 percent in 2020 and by up to 5 percent in 2021. ...
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Adidas places two low-yield €500 million bonds
Adidas placed two low-yield bonds worth a total of €1 billion, describing the transaction as its first one as an investment-grade-rate issuer, demonstrating the company’s strong credit profile. The bond offer was more than seven times oversubscribed. The proceeds will be used for general purposes including the repayment of existing ...
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ADIFO launches U.S. operations
The Adi Dassler International Family Office (ADIFO), a privately-owned, independent wealth advisory firm for families, recently launched U.S. operations in Miami and Tampa, Florida. ADIFO was founded by Klaus, Horst and Stefan Bente, the three sons of Inge Dassler, the oldest daughter of Adidas’ founder, Adi Dassler. Currently run by ...
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Storck Bicycle in ownership reshuffle
Markus Storck, Storck Bicycle’s founder and managing director, has sold 25 percent of his shares to Stefan Lohwasser. Meanwhile, Lohwasser has acquired a 25% share in Storck Bicycle from Decathlon. Storck and Lohwasser are now equal partners in the cycling label, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The ...
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Moody’s downgrades Callaway
While Standard & Poor’s has confirmed Callaway Golf Company’s credit rating because of better-than-expected results, Moody’s has lowered its corporate family rating and that of its senior secured loan, to B1-PD, while giving the company a higher probability of default because of the coronavirus pandemic. It feels that Callaway’s operating ...
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News briefs
Wolverine adopts First Insight's consumer analytics
Wolverine Worldwide has announced a strategic partnership with First Insight under which it will deploy its Voice of the Customer predictive analytics solution across its portfolio of 12 brands, including Merrell, Sperry, Saucony, Hush Puppies and Keds. The deal follows a successful test conducted by Hush Puppies in different regions ...
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News briefs
Fanatics’ valuation reportedly rose to $6.2 billion after new funding round
Fanatics, the fast-growing, vertically integrated licensed sportswear company, has reportedly reached a marlket value to $6.2 billion while raising $350 million in a Series E funding round arranged by Goldman Sachs. The round, which was oversubscribed, is expected to be the last private funding for Fanatics before the company files ...
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News briefs
Champion's Nordic office moves to Stockholm
Champion’s head office and showroom for the Nordic countries is moving to the center of Stockholm from its logistics hub at Tyresö. The move follows the appointment a year ago of Klas Ottoson as head of Northern European operations. The former Ralph Lauren executive took the place then of Ralph ...
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Boardriders sells a U.K. retail chain to its founder
After long discussions, Boardriders has resold selected assets of Two Seasons, a British action sports retailer, to its founder, Stuart Roberts, helped by two investors. Roberts founded Two Seasons in 1982, when he was 19 years old, and sold it to the former Billabong Group in 2007 when it had ...
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News briefs
Good ratings for Adidas
The Adidas Group got strong investment-grade ratings from Standard & Poors and Moody’s – A+ and A2, respectively – with a stable outlook, making it one of the top-rated companies in the sporting goods industry. The two agencies praised the Big a for its diversification in terms of geographies, products ...
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Frasers delays financial report, establishes a new commercial division
Frasers Group – formerly Sports Direct International – says it is delaying the presentation of its annual results, as it did last year, because it needs more time to complete the accounts and their audit. The report is now due to be released on Aug. 20 instead of Aug. ...
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Tennis champion Maria Sharapova Invests in Therabody
Maria Sharapova is investing in a U.S. company, Therabody, formerly called Theragun, which is known for its Theragun percussive massage therapy devices. The former Russian tennis star is also going to be a member of the advisory board of the Los Angeles-based company. Nothing has been reported about the amount ...
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Superdry secures £70 million financing facility
Superdry has secured a £70 million (€77.5m-$91.2m) Asset-Backed Lending (ABL) facility that is supposed to help the company get through the coronavirus crisis. The facility is provided by its current lenders, HSBC and BNPP, with terms extended until January 2023, in place of January 2022. Superdry’s revenues were down by ...
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News briefs
Hurley family acquires Simple
Through Simple Shoes – a new entity operating within its Kandui Holdings – the Hurley family has acquired the outstanding assets and intellectual property of the Simple skate shoe brand from KTSimple. The Simple brand was founded in the 1990s by Eric Meyer but went dormant in 2011. Denis Ryan, ...
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News briefs
Nike to lay off 500 at its headquarters
Nike will be laying off 500 or more employees – some executives included – from its headquarters. Among them will be executives and the 192 employees of several company-run nurseries. To this end the company has filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice with the state of Oregon. ...
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News briefs
BasicNet buys back Kappa Japan from China’s DongXiang
BasicNet has signed a deal to reacquire the Kappa brand in Japan from the Chinese group DongXiang for $13 million. The company said the deal is limited to intellectual property assets and does not include any related business unit and should take place “in the coming months.” “Japan is a ...
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News briefs
Nike drops plans for “Air” plant in Arizona
It turns out that Nike will not be opening its third Air Manufacturing Innovation plant – after those in Oregon and Missouri – in the city of Goodyear, Arizona. The company announced an investment of $184 million in the plant and the promise of more than 500 full-time jobs on ...
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Mavic is saved by Bourrelier
The Grenoble Commercial Court has named the Bourrelier group as the new owner of Mavic, the historic French brand of cycling accessories specializing in high-tech wheels that was recently divested by Amer Sports. Mavic went into receivership in May, as reported by SGI Europe on May 11, after posting a ...
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News briefs
Humanoo acquires WePulse
The German digital health platform Humanoo has acquired the French platform WePulse to gain a foothold in France. Both serve the enterprise market and provide exercise tracking and incentives. As of next year, under the Humanoo brand, the two companies will be handling the traffic of some 500,000 European users ...
