Sports Direct International has completed the placement of 17.0 million ordinary shares by the Sports Direct Employee Benefit Trust, representing about 2.84 percent of the company's share capital, at a price of 660 pence per share. Sports Direct's employees had decided to sell them as a portion of those that had been awarded to them under the company's Bonus Share Scheme for 2009. Another 2.4 million shares vested under the same scheme have been distributed to the beneficiaries. After this placement, the Employee Benefit Trust will hold 10.1 million ordinary shares, representing 1.69 percent of Sports Direct's equity. Goldman Sachs International and Espirito Santo Investment Bank acted as joint book runners in connection with the placement. The accelerated book building process went into action after the appointment of Goldman Sachs as joint corporate broker for the company, working alongside SDI's previous brokers, Oriel Securities and Espirito Santo.

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