The sporting goods company Adidas can close the inglorious Reebok chapter, which has lasted over 15 years, with a happy ending.

The three-stripes brand from Herzogenaurach is selling the American brand for 2.1 billion euros to the US conglomerate Authentic Brands Group (ABG), which has now bought more than 30 fashion, sports and fitness brands.

The DAX company announced this a quarter of an hour before the stock market closed on Thursday.

In the last few minutes of trading, the share price rose by up to 2.5 percent.

Rudiger Koehn

Business correspondent based in Munich.

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Because the agreed total sales price is significantly higher than expected.

After the sales process started in February, there was repeated speculation about a price of around 1 billion euros.

Now, however, Adidas can make a high book profit and thus an extraordinary profit of up to 1.3 billion euros if the transaction is completed in the first quarter of 2022.

Adidas announced that it would distribute most of the sales price to shareholders - probably in the form of a bonus dividend.

Authentic Brands pays the bulk of the payment once it has been implemented, further installments depend on Reebok's subsequent success.

Reebok was a losing business

The Reebok brand, which was acquired at great expense in 2006, was last on the books with a value of only 757 million euros. Viewed over the entire period, it was nevertheless a losing business. The US brand was acquired for $ 3.8 billion or about 3.1 billion euros at the time. In the meantime, parts have been sold that brought in 0.4 billion euros. The sales proceeds add up to 2.5 billion euros.

The Authentic Brands Group, which applied for listing on the New York Stock Exchange, has a broad portfolio. These include brands like Brooks Brothers, Forever 21, and Sports Illustrated. Adidas emphasized that the transaction taking place next year has no impact on the financial outlook for the current financial year 2021, nor on the financial targets announced in March as part of the five-year strategy until 2025. Reebok was no longer taken into account.