Bury-headquartered JD Sports Fashion Plc, one of the world’s leading retailers and etailers of sports, fashion and outdoor brands, has exchanged contracts to sell Footasylum Limited and its associated subsidiaries to AURELIUS Group for £37.5 million.
The sale follows JD and Footasylum being fined £4.7m by the Competition and Markets Authority following rule breaches during an attempted merger last year.
A note posted on the London Stock Exchange said: “The sale has been agreed in accordance with the final undertakings issued by the Competition and Markets Authority (‘CMA’) on 14 January 2022, following its decision to prohibit JD’s acquisition of Footasylum last year. JD has cooperated with the CMA throughout the divestment process, including ensuring that the purchaser was acceptable to the CMA and met certain key criteria set out within the final undertakings. The sale is anticipated to complete in the coming weeks with no conditionality.”
Kath Smith, Interim CEO of JD, said: “I would like to sincerely thank the teams at AURELIUS and Footasylum who worked collaboratively with the CMA to agree this transaction. We wish both parties every success for the future.”
