Did Anta make a good deal by acquiring Jack Wolfskin for $290 million? | Krypton·Major Events

Author | Xie Yunzi

Editor | Zheng Huaizhou

Cover Source | Corporate Weibo

Anta Sports adds another sub - brand.

On April 10th, Anta released an announcement stating that it will acquire the German outdoor brand Jack Wolfskin in full for $290 million (approximately 2.1 billion RMB). After meeting other closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter or the beginning of the third quarter this year.

Behind the acquisition of the Jack Wolfskin brand is Anta's commitment to its multi - brand strategy and its in - depth exploration of the outdoor market.

Regarding this transaction, Ding Shizhong, the Chairman of Anta Group, also said that the brand is positioned for the mass outdoor sports market and can form a differentiation with Anta's existing high - end outdoor brands.

He also emphasized that this acquisition is also a new milestone in Anta Group's global layout. "We are looking forward to Jack Wolfskin joining Anta Group's multi - brand matrix."

Affected by this news, Anta Sports' stock price rose to some extent.

As of the close on April 11th, Anta Sports was quoted at HK$83.85 per share, with a gain of 2.82%. However, some voices in the industry believe that this is not a relatively cost - effective deal. The focus of the controversy lies in the development of the Jack Wolfskin brand in recent years, especially its "decline" in the Chinese market.

Image captured from Anta's announcement

 Changing ownership multiple times, Jack Wolfskin lags behind

Consumers who don't pay attention to the outdoor market may not be familiar with Jack Wolfskin, but they must have seen the cute brand image of the "paw print logo" in shopping malls.

Jack Wolfskin was founded in 1981 with the original intention of "providing high - cost - performance equipment for outdoor enthusiasts" and quickly established a foothold in the German market. Its brand concept of "natural experience" once attracted a large number of European middle - class consumers. With core products such as windbreakers and hiking shoes, it once became one of the top three brands in terms of market share in the European outdoor market.

In 2007, Jack Wolfskin officially entered the Chinese market. With its low price and the core concept of "professional equipment without heavy burden", it opened up a situation in various levels of the Chinese market. According to a previous report by "Sports Business", in 2011, the number of Jack Wolfskin stores in China exceeded 200, and in 2015, it even exceeded 700.

Despite a strong start, Jack Wolfskin's later development was not smooth.

From 2006 to 2018, Jack Wolfskin changed ownership four times. In 2018, Callaway Golf acquired the equity of Jack Wolfskin from institutions such as Bain Capital for 418 million euros (approximately 3.395 billion RMB).

However, the capital market was not optimistic about this acquisition. Investors generally believed that Callaway's main business was golf, which had little relevance to the outdoor market. Therefore, after the acquisition of Jack Wolfskin, Callaway's stock price once fell.

Actually, during the process of changing ownership multiple times, Jack Wolfskin also constantly tried to adjust its brand strategy. However, the frequent replacement of management made the road to revival a bubble.

In 2020, Richard Collier, the new CEO of Jack Wolfskin, put forward the brand proposition of "We Live to Discover", trying to attract new consumer groups through brand reshaping.

Although its parent company Callaway was an American enterprise at that time, it decided to invest the main resources of Jack Wolfskin in emerging markets. Therefore, China and Europe became the key areas for Jack Wolfskin's development. In 2024, Jack Wolfskin even "completely withdrew from the United States".

However, contrary to expectations, although it performed well in the Chinese market, Jack Wolfskin did not stand out compared with other competing brands.

Zhang Qing, the founder of Key Way, even told 36Kr directly that due to problems such as inventory turnover and channel management, the brand power of Jack Wolfskin has been declining in the past few years.

In the perception of some domestic consumers, due to long - term promotions, Jack Wolfskin is becoming more and more like an "outlet brand". In contrast, both the domestic affordable Kailas and the "latecomer" The North Face are constantly expanding their influence. Moreover, even in its core market of Europe, Jack Wolfskin is facing the problem of weak sales.

In recent years, Callaway's financial report performance has not been very optimistic. In the fiscal year 2024, its annual net revenue was approximately $4.239 billion, a year - on - year decrease of 1.1%. Among them, the decline of Jack Wolfskin's European business was one of the main reasons, which may also have laid the groundwork for Jack Wolfskin to change ownership again.

Image from Jack Wolfskin's official Weibo

Is it worth it for Anta?

For Jack Wolfskin, Anta Group, which has accumulated rich experience in FILA and Arc'teryx and has sufficient capital advantages, is undoubtedly the hope for it to resume growth and be reborn.

In recent years, Anta Sports has always followed the development strategy of "single focus, multi - brand, globalization" and continuously enriched its product line through a series of acquisitions. At the 2024 financial report meeting, Ding Shizhong mentioned more than once that the multiple brands under Anta have clear differences. Even in product innovation, there are independent R & D investments due to the different market positioning of each brand.

So far, Anta's brands already include the main brand Anta covering mass sports, FILA focusing on fashionable sports, and Descente and Kolon Sports focusing on professional outdoor sports. With the help of multiple brands, Anta Sports' performance has a strong growth momentum.

In 2024, Anta Sports achieved a revenue of 70.826 billion RMB, a year - on - year increase of 13.6%. The profit attributable to shareholders was 15.596 billion RMB, a year - on - year increase of 52.4%; the operating profit was 16.595 billion RMB, a year - on - year increase of 8.0%.

In addition, according to the latest data disclosed by the company, in the first quarter of 2025, the retail sales of multiple brands under Anta Sports all achieved year - on - year growth. Among them, the retail sales of the Anta brand and FILA both achieved high - single - digit year - on - year growth. The retail sales of other brands represented by Descente and Kolon Sports recorded a year - on - year growth of 65% to 70%.

Although Anta Sports has been very successful in operating other brands, in the view of Tang Xiaotang, an independent analyst in the fashion industry, Jack Wolfskin may not be a good acquisition choice.

Just from the perspective of brand value, Anta's acquisition price for Jack Wolfskin is nearly 40% off the price Callaway paid for the acquisition seven years ago. Tang Xiaotang always believes that Jack Wolfskin has "lost its momentum" and its development in the Chinese market is too lagging, and its prospects are not optimistic.

Moreover, there has always been a voice in the industry that whether Jack Wolfskin can create popular products and reshape its brand value in the future depends on how Anta conducts "differentiated operations".

Since 2024, multiple brands under Anta Sports have collectively focused on the outdoor market. Among them, Anta's champion stores have fully shifted to the outdoor market. This also makes people wonder whether the cost - effective outdoor brand Jack Wolfskin will conflict with the outdoor products of other Anta brands?

In Zhang Qing's view, Anta Sports' multi - brand strategy is very clear. "Although there may be local overlaps and they are in the competition stage, in the end, it depends on who can really stand out."

In his view, consumers in the outdoor field have a distinct brand awareness. "Although Anta's main brand is also involved in the outdoor market, when consumers buy outdoor products, they still tend to choose professional outdoor brands. Moreover, previously, Jack Wolfskin hardly made any marketing voices in the Chinese market and only officially announced Karen Mok as its brand ambassador, which also leaves room for Anta to reshape the Jack Wolfskin brand."

It is a clear fact that in the current sports goods industry, the outdoor market is the most promising and fastest - growing segment. With Jack Wolfskin being acquired by Anta, the outdoor competition in the domestic market will only become more intense. The acquisition of Jack Wolfskin will definitely promote Anta Sports' globalization process, especially in the European market.

As of the end of last year, Anta Sports had already made arrangements in Southeast Asian markets such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. In the previous year, the number of the company's stores outside China reached 243. Earlier, Ding Shizhong once publicly stated that "Anta wants to be a global brand", and Anta Sports' series of acquisitions are also laying the foundation for this goal.

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This article is from the WeChat official account "36Kr Finance", author: Xie Yunzi & Zheng Huaizhou. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.