Anta Sports Products, the leading Chinese sports brand, has sealed a preliminary agreement with several parties around Descente to form a joint venture for the sale of all categories of products under the Japanese brand in China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau.
The proposed deal is most certainly intended to take advantage of an increase in snow sports participation in China, in the run-up to the Winter Olympics that will be held in and near Beijing in 2022. The plan is to start retailing the products from the first half of 2017, targeting the higher end of the Chinese market with products intended for skiing as well as training, running and other categories.
The deal was formally sealed between Andes Sports Products, a fully owned-subsidiary of Anta; Descente Global Retail (DGR), a subsidiary of Descente; Itochu Textile, a Chinese subsidiary of Itochu Corporation in Japan, together forming the joint venture parties; and with Descente Japan.
Anta said in an announcement that the joint venture group should be owned at 60 percent by Anta, at 30 percent by DGR and at 10 percent by Itochu. They are planning an initial capital injection of RMB 250 million (€34.7m-$38.3m) into the joint venture, with each party pitching in the same share as its economic interest.
The idea is that Descente Japan and DGR will issue a license to a wholly-owned subsidiary of the joint venture group, allowing it to use the Descente trademarks in the territory. The deal is subject to various conditions including any regulatory approval.
