Two chains of the Dutch bankrupted USG Group, Aktiesport and Perry Sport, have been acquired by British JD Sports. The guardian expects an agreement to be signed in a couple of days.
Danger for the sporting shoe market?
The British sports clothing retailer wants to acquire both Perry Sport and Aktiesport’s stores and stock. However, the Primo stores are of no interest to JD Sports and are therefore not part of the deal. The Dutch antitrust authority will have to judge whether JD Sports would become too powerful within the market if the deal goes through and has four weeks to rule on the matter.
Insiders fear the acquisition will have a major impact on the sporting shoe market, as the size and dominance of the combined chains could result in former Macintosh chains, like Scapino, to lose out on important brands like Adidas, Nike and Under Armour.
JD Sports Fashion is a listed company and has 800 sporting and outdoor clothing stores, across the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands (with 16 JD stores). JD Sports Fashion and its 19 different formulas managed a 25 % turnover increase to 1.5 billion pounds (1.9 billion euro) in 2015.
