An investment consortium that includes the Chinese sportswear company Anta Sports Products has tabled a formal cash buyout offer estimated at about 4.6 billion euros for the Finnish sporting goods firm Amer Sports. Back in September, Amer Sports had confirmed receiving a non-binding buyout offer from the Chinese firm.
In a release issued Friday, Mascot Bidco, a firm registered in Helsinki at the end of November, formally announced a cash tender offer to purchase all of the shares in Amer Sports. The members of the consortium Mascot Bidco represents include Anta Sports Products, the investment fund FV Fund, Anamered Investments, which is wholly-owned by Canadian billionaire Chip Wilson and the Chinese internet titan Tencent, which purchased a majority stake in the hit-making Finnish game firm Supercell two years ago.
The tender offer proposes paying 40 euros per share for the deal, and values the company’s outstanding share capital at 4.6 billion euros.
Board, major shareholders back sale
In a stock exchange release issued on Friday, Amer Sports said that its board had unanimously approved the purchase offer. The firm’s main shareholders have also committed to accepting the buyout offer, subject to routine terms and conditions. They include the personal insurance firms Kaleva and Mandatum Life and the pension insurance companies Ilmarinen and Varma among others.
The company said Thursday that the investor consortium had asked chief executive Heikki Takala and his core management team to remain at the helm following the transaction. It added that it did not expect the sale to have any major impact on its operations, cash position, management or personnel, or its location.
With a market value of an estimated four billion euros, Amer Sports is one of the largest listed companies on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. On Wednesday before the Independence Day holiday, its closing share price was 35.2 euros.
Following the purchase announcement, the stock exchange recorded a brisk increase in trading of Amer Sports shares. However trading was suspended mid-morning on Friday at the company’s request.