JD Sports Make Splash With Spanish Acquisition

JD Sports have completed a deal to approve a buyout of remaining shares of the Iberian Sports Retail Group.

The company’s shareholders have unanimously approved the company’s proposal that was to buy remaining shares in the Iberian Sports Retail Group that it did not own.

There were a minority of shares available to still be bought by JD in the Iberian Sports Retail Group, and the retailer has now decided to move to snap them up.

The high-street brand is very familiar to those in the UK, with many towns up and down the country having one of their stores.

They sell trainers, sports wear, and leisure wear, with brands like Nike, Adidas, Puma, New Balance, and many more available in their stores.

The UK market isn’t where their focus solely lies, though, with them wanting to expand further in western Europe, and that is backed up by this latest move from the group.

They are bidding to strengthen their position on the continent in terms of the sports wear market, and they are going to buy out the remaining 49.98% shares in the Iberian Sports Retail Group in a deal that is set to be worth a cool €500m, with the deal funded by available cash resources.

The deal is expected to complete on Wednesday after shareholders in JD unanimously backed the decision to go ahead in a general meeting held earlier this week.

It should come as no surprise, either, as JD had initially signalled its intention to buy out the remainder of the Iberian Sports Retail Group earlier this year, having already held many of the shares in the company.

JD Sports are certainly making a big play in Europe at the moment, with announcements this year that it is buying France’s Courir and Poland’s MIG, with it reporting that it is on track to record profits of £1bn.