Equipment manufacturers: Authentic Brands, owner of Reebok, acquires Champion for $1bn (press)

Authentic Brands Group, an American company specialised in brand management, has reportedly won the tender to acquire the American clothing and sports equipment brand Champion from the HanesBrands group, for "a little more than $1bn (around €930m)," according to the fashion daily Women's Wear Daily on 03/04/2024. The takeover is expected to be completed towards "around the end of May or early June."

HanesBrands generated a turnover of $5.6bn (€5bn) in 2023, down 9.6% compared to 2022, and has a net debt of €3.1bn (€2.8bn). At the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, "global Champion sales decreased approximately 23%," according to HanesBrands' 2023 results published on 15/02/2024.

Champion, a brand created in 1919 in South Carolina (USA), was the official equipment supplier and distributor of NBA jerseys between 1990 and 2002. The brand also accompanied FIBA until 2017 (replaced by Nike), as well as basketball federations (including the Italian federation between 1996 and 2016), several European football clubs (FC Sochaux-Montbéliard, Parma Calcio 1913, Wigan Athletic FC, etc.) and the…