Pinault family sells share: Puma gets major Chinese shareholder

The sporting goods manufacturer Puma has fallen behind in recent years. Most recently there was a big loss on the balance sheet. The Chinese competitor Anta is now making a big entry into Herzogenaurachern. In addition to many warm words, there are also clear statements.

The Franconian sporting goods company Puma is now largely in Chinese hands. Anta Sports Products Limited has completed the takeover of the share package from French shareholder Artémis SAS and is now the largest Puma shareholder, the company in Herzogenaurach announced. Anta holds 29.06 percent of Puma shares. The share package of the French billionaire Pinault family cost around 1.5 billion euros. Anta confirmed that a takeover offer to the remaining Puma shareholders is “currently” not planned.

"We welcome Anta Sports as our largest shareholder. For us, Anta Sports' long-term commitment is a great vote of confidence in our strategy, our management team and our future," said Puma CEO Arthur Höld.

Anta Chairman Ding Shizhong described Puma as an “iconic brand.” We see significant long-term potential in this. “We have full confidence in the management team and strategic direction,” he is quoted as saying in a joint statement. “As a long-term shareholder, we look forward to contributing our experience and skills, especially in the retail and operational areas,” explained Anta boss Ding Shizhong. At the same time, Puma's independence and brand identity are respected.

At the same time, however, Anta registered a claim to “appropriate representation” on the Puma supervisory board. The Pinault family holding Artemis currently has two members there. The chair of the committee, Heloise Temple-Boyer, is the deputy boss of Artemis.

Puma, once number three in the world in the sporting goods industry behind US market leader Nike and local rival Adidas, has recently had significant economic problems. The company slipped into the red and had to accept a loss in sales. Last year only 7.3 billion euros were generated and a record loss was incurred. In the ranking of sporting goods companies, Puma slipped and landed well behind its own major shareholder Anta.

Anta, on the other hand, has been on a growth path for years and has bought up some well-known sporting goods brands such as Wilson (tennis, golf), Arcteryx (outdoor), and Atomic (ski) in the USA and Europe. Among other things, Puma hopes that the takeover will provide better insights into the important Chinese sporting goods market - which is not only considered the world's largest market in the industry, but also the one with the greatest growth potential.