Status: 08/12/2021 7:11 p.m.
The sporting goods manufacturer Adidas is selling its US subsidiary Reebok to the Authentic Brands Group for 2.1 billion euros. The majority of the proceeds will be distributed directly to the shareholders.
After months of searching for a buyer, the sports goods manufacturer Adidas has now struck gold. The company is selling its US brand Reebok to Authentic Brands Group (ABG) for 2.1 billion euros.
With the change of ownership, Reebok should be “ideally positioned for long-term success,” said Adidas boss Kasper Rorsted. The company itself continues to aim to “grow in an attractive industry, gain market share and create sustainable value for all of our stakeholders”.
Most of the cash proceeds go to shareholders
The majority of the purchase price will be paid in cash upon completion of the transaction, announced the company in Herzogenaurach. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.
Adidas wants to distribute the majority of the cash proceeds to its shareholders. The shares listed in the DAX rose significantly after the transaction was announced. Adidas took over Reebok in 2006 under the direction of the then CEO and current FC Bayern President Herbert Hainer and paid around 3.1 billion euros for it at the time.
Reebok didn’t live up to expectations
In the 15 years of cooperation, however, the US brand had never been able to make the contribution to group profits that the buyers had initially envisaged. For its part, Reebok had complained that Adidas was developing its own brand and caring too little about the second brand.
“We have always valued Reebok and we are grateful for the contributions that the brand and the team behind it have made to our company,” said Rorsted.
Parts of the business already sold before
A long time ago, Adidas had parted with smaller parts of the business that had been bought at the time and earned 400 million euros for it.
In the past few months, an illustrious group of bidders had tried to get Reebok, but their interests had only now come together with AGB. Among other things, the US basketball icon Shaquille O’Neal is said to have been among the applicants.