Social media conglomerate Tencent Holdings is believed to be close to joining a Chinese investment group bidding to acquire Finnish sports goods firm Amer. The consortium, spearheaded by Anta Sports Products, would see Tencent participating as one of a few minority investors under the proposal. Its involvement would serve to boost considerably Amer’s brands in the Chinese market.
In a statement made two months ago, Anta spoke of joining with local buyout company FountainVest Partners to offer a potential €40 (US$45.60) per share for Amer, a target value of around €4.7 billion ($5.3 billion). The consortium has sought at least €3.5 billion ($3.99 billion) in loans. Anta has a market value of about $11.6 billion.
The acquisition agreement could potentially be complete within several weeks.