Enterprise buys Intersport from Mercator for €34.5m

The GP tapped its Polish Enterprise Fund VII vehicle for the deal's equity, which will be deployed to acquire the Intersport and The Athlete's Foot franchises in the Balkans from Slovenia-based Mercator Group.

Enterprise will take over the Balkan operations of Intersport International Corporation, which sold its franchise rights in the region to Mercator in 1999, and comprises around 110 shops across Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina.

The GP will wholly acquire Mercator subsidiary Intersport ISI for up to €34.5m – depending on the company's financials at the time of the deal's closing, which is expected to be in November. Enterprise Investors was yet to formalise a debt structure for the deal when contacted by unquote".

Enterprise partner Michał Kędzia said in a statement the firm plans to roll out new shops across the Balkan region, as well as an improved online retail platform. He also said the company would be provided the resources to become a consolidation platform if needed.

Intersport ISI is the second Intersport franchise group to come under private equity ownership in Europe. In 2015, Nordic private equity outfit Adelis Equity Partners acquired 100 franchise stores of Intersport Sweden.

Company
Headquartered in Naklo outside Ljubljana in Slovenia, Intersport ISI is a group of sporting goods retailers composed of the Intersport and The Athlete's Foot brands.

The company employs 900 people across 110 shops and generated €81m of revenue in 2015.

People
Enterprise Investors – Michał Kędzia (partner).

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