Anta buys 29% of Puma for 1.5 billion euros in cash

Anta Sports Products Group will pay €1.505 billion (more than 11 billion yuan) in cash for a 29.06% stake in Puma SE, becoming the German sportswear maker's largest shareholder. The seller is Artemis, the investment vehicle of the Pinault family, which controls Kering.

The deal marks the furthest Anta has pushed into the home turf of Nike and Adidas. Anta already runs FILA in China and, through Amer Sports, owns Arc'teryx and Salomon. But its main brand has struggled to win mainstream consumers in Europe and North America. Buying into Puma hands it a ready-made global platform in football, athletics and motorsport.

A 38-company investment web

Anta Sports Products Group was incorporated in January 2007 with Ding Shijia as legal representative and registered capital of HK$1.13 billion. It is wholly owned by Anta Investment Limited, according to corporate records database Tianyancha.

Tianyancha lists 38 outbound investments by the company, 32 of them still active. They include Fujian Anta Logistics and Xiamen Anta, forming the manufacturing and supply-chain base beneath the group's brand portfolio.

That network, plus about 40 billion yuan in net cash, let Anta take the single largest stake in the world's third-biggest sportswear brand without a full tender offer or heavy borrowing. The entire cheque comes from its own funds.

Buying into a downturn

Puma's troubles created the opening. Weak wholesale demand in Europe and the Americas, softer consumer spending and currency swings pushed the company deep into the red. It posted a net loss attributable to shareholders of €646 million for 2025, with operating profit turning negative.

Artemis, meanwhile, is keen to raise cash to shore up the balance sheet of its luxury business, and Puma's shares have traded at low levels.

Anta has a record of expanding against the cycle. Puma's brand assets remain strong: sponsorships across football, track and field and motorsport, annual revenue still above €7 billion, and distribution and supply chains built up in more than 100 countries.

Filling the competitive gap

Anta's past deals each plugged a specific hole. FILA China, acquired in 2009, gave it premium fashion sportswear and female shoppers. The 2019 consortium purchase of Amer Sports, owner of Arc'teryx and Salomon, gave it outdoor gear for affluent urban buyers and hardcore trail users.

But in running, basketball and football — the three biggest global sports and the hardest to enter — Anta's main brand has long been boxed in by its base in China and Southeast Asia. Western consumers still rank Nike and Adidas far higher.

Building overseas channels from scratch in European football and athletics would cost billions of dollars in marketing over many years, with high risk of losing trust across cultures. The Puma stake buys Anta a place in those markets at far lower cost.

Anta avoids the burden of a full takeover and delisting. Through equity-accounting treatment and a seat on Puma's supervisory board, it can work with Puma's European and American supply chains and global event ties gradually rather than through a forced merger.

The limits of 29.06%

A non-controlling stake also sets clear limits. Puma is a German-listed company bound by the country's two-tier board system and strong unions. Anta cannot repeat the aggressive direct-to-consumer overhaul and staff clear-outs it ran at FILA China. Its pledge not to launch a tender offer and to keep Puma's independent governance is a rational compromise.

The harder work lies in Greater China and in global channel strategy. Puma's wholesale distribution in China has aged and sell-through has slowed. Whether Anta can transfer its warehousing, logistics and direct retail experience to Puma China will largely decide how quickly the unit turns around.

Globally, Puma is still expected to post an operating loss this year. Under equity accounting, every €100 million of loss eats directly into Anta's investment income.

The 38-company base on Tianyancha shows how far Anta has come from a shoe workshop in Jinjiang. With the €1.5 billion cheque now written, it must prove not only that it can grow niche brands in China, but that Chinese capital can steer a century-old German sports company through a turnaround.