News briefs - Corporate and M&A – Page 44
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News briefs
S&P maintains a negative outlook for Champion’s parent
Standard & Poor’s was only partially impressed by the presentation of Hanesbrands’ new business plan by its new CEO, Steve Bratspies. The rating agency maintained a negative outlook on the parent company of Champion, citing an “execution risk” for the three-year growth plan due to increased capital investment and marketing ...
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News briefs
HeiQ expands into coatings with the takeover of RAS
HeiQ, the Swiss ingredients brand known for its antiviral textile technology HeiQ Viroblock, is expanding its product portfolio to include coating technologies through the acquisition of a German materials company, RAS. Based in Regensburg, this company develops and manufactures highly functional materials including antimicrobial, hygiene-improving additives and durable antimicrobial coating ...
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News briefs
Wolverine and ABG reportedly bid jointly for Reebok
Wolverine Worldwide has joined forces with the Authentic Brands Group (ABG) to make a bid worth “slightly more than” $1 billion for the takeover of Reebok, according to The New York Post. ABG’s current assets include Sports Illustrated as well as sports brands like Airwalk, Prince Sports and Volcom. The ...
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News briefs
Technogym sells Danish club management software firm
Technogym has announced the sale of Exerp ApS, a Danish company involved in the development of software for the management of club members, and its holding company, Amleto ApS, to a U.S. investment firm, Battery Ventures. Technogym will record a capital gain of €17.1 million on the €53.1 million price ...
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News briefs
Nike sees HQ staff working at the office three days a week
Nike’s vice president of workplace design and connectivity, Jeff Nichols, has sent out in an email to affected employees, laying out a new in-office work policy for the company’s global headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. Nike is to begin raising capacity, services and amenities there as of next month, while continuing ...
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News briefs
Shares of Sports Direct’s parent reach a 52-week high
Frasers Group, which owns Sports Direct International and many other assets, has launched a new share buyback program, limiting the maximum aggregate purchase price at £60 million (€69m-$83m) for a total of up to ten million shares. It started on May 4 with the acquisition of 3,189 shares at an ...
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News briefs
Sweden’s Stronger has a new owner
Stronger, a Swedish brand of women’s sports apparel, is now under the control of the Danish-Swedish venture capital firm Polaris, a specialist in Nordic mid-caps, which has won a bidding war to acquire a 51 percent stake in the company. The sales price has not been disclosed, but an anonymous ...
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News briefs
Rapala VMC completes a share buy-back
Rapala VMC Corp. communicated on March 25 that its board had decided to start buying back a maximum of 100,000 of Rapala VMC’s own shares, for a maximum outlay of €700,000. The buy-back of its own shares started on April 1st and ended on May 10. During this period, the ...
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News briefs
S&P upgrades Under Armour’s outlook
The outlook for Under Armour has been changed by Standard & Poor’s from negative to stable based on the company’s improved financial metrics, while its issuer credit rating has been kept at BB. S&P expects UA’s debt/Ebitda ratio to decline from 2.7 times in 2020 to below 2.0 times by ...
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News briefs
Amazon issues a maiden $1bn green bond
Amazon raised $1 billion with the issuance of its first sustainability bond on May 10. The company says the proceeds will be used to invest in renewable energy, clean transport, sustainable buildings, affordable housing, and socioeconomic advancement and empowerment. The U.S.-based e-commerce giant has pledged to be carbon-free, on a ...
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News briefs
JD buys a small meanswear retailer
JD Sports Fashion has acquired Oi Polloi, an upscale casual menswear store in Manchester, and its online shop. Founded in 2002, the retailer offers clothing under its own label as well as brands such as Adidas, Reebok, Converse, Keen, Patagonia, Barbour, Ralph Lauren, Superga, Levi’s, Stone Island and Armor Lux. ...
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News briefs
VF is splitting up Icebreaker
Four years after acquiring the brand of merino-wool apparel based in New Zealand, VF Corp. has decided that it will be splitting Icebreaker into three entities, according to reports in the NZ Herald. Two of these entities will be operating out of the present headquarters, in the city of Ponsonby, ...
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News briefs
Salomon unveils details of its restructuring plan
Salomon’s management presented details of its restructuring plan to the company’s Social and Economic Committee (CSE) on May 3. The plan envisages cutting 82 jobs out of 738 at the company’s head office in Annecy, in France’s southeast. The cuts are mostly due to the closing of ski resorts in ...
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News briefs
SRAM rewards shareholders after a strong year
SRAM, the private maker of bicycle components, plans to issue a $1.1 billion term loan to finance a special distribution of $750 million to its shareholders, after a banner year in which its sales jumped to $974 million, thanks to the recent bike boom. The rest of the proceeds will ...
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News briefs
Irish singer invests in Gym+Coffee
A young Irish singer, Niall Horan, has joined Gym+Coffee, an Irish brand of athleisure clothing and accessories for women and men, as an investor, ambassador and adviser. Gym+Coffee was founded by three friends in 2017. The company has six “Clubhouse” stores in the Republic of Ireland and two in the ...
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News briefs
Hyperice gains a 20-year-old athlete investor
More and more sports professionals are investing in sports brands while becoming their ambassadors. Their age is not a factor, apparently. Erling Haaland, the 20-year-old Norwegian footballer born in England who plays for Borussia Dortmund and the Norwegian football team, has joined Hyperice as an athlete ambassador and investor. Haaland ...
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News briefs
Rose Bikes expands production in Germany
Rose Bikes, the German DTC brand of bicycles assembled in Germany, is opening a new production hall in its hometown of Bocholt to help meet a goal of expanding its output by 60 percent over the next three years, starting with a 30 percent increase by this summer. It is ...
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News briefs
Frasers starts a share buyback program
Frasers Group, which owns Sports Direct International and many other assets, has launched a new share buyback program, limiting the maximum aggregate purchase price at £60 million (€69m-$83m) for a total of up to ten million shares. It started on May 4 with the acquisition of 3,189 shares at an ...
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News briefs
Decathlon signs a leaseback deal for 27 French properties
IREIT Global has entered into a conditional sale agreement for the acquisition, via its wholly-owned subsidiary FIT2, of 27 retail properties in France from Decathlon with a gross lettable area (GLA) of 95,477 square meters. They are mostly located around smaller cities. The total agreed price is of around €110.5 ...
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News briefs
Jay-Z invests in at-home fitness company
Shawn Carter, the 51-year-old American rapper and business mogul globally known as Jay-Z, has invested in LIT Method, a fitness company specializing in at-home fitness training, through his venture capital firm Marcy Venture Partners. The financial details of the investment have not been disclosed. LIT Method is a Los Angeles-based ...
